Pedagogically, I apply a student-centered approach where the majority of class time is devoted to the discussion and synthesis of course materials, which is further integrated through writing assignments that allow students to develop unique intellectual voices. In my courses, I provide students with the theoretical and methodological tools needed to artfully engage with broader anthropological and real-world debates about how the past intersects with the present. I combine experiential and practice-based learning strategies in order to involve students in the process of empirical discovery and methods-based theory building. The courses described below equip students to think anthropologically in the classroom and beyond by providing them with opportunities to apply ethnographic methods in museums, NGOs, and archives.
Information about my new graduate courses coming soon:
(Re)mediating the Contemporary: New Directions and Reverberations in Visual Anthropology
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Archives, Counter-Archives, & the Production of Knowledge: Anthropological Approaches to History and Memory
Contemporary Perspectives on the Spanish Civil War and the Recovery of Historical Memory /
This course provides an in-depth look at the Historical Memory Movement and considers how different forms of scientific expertise have been mobilized to produce nuanced forms of historical knowledge. Arguing that contemporary exhumation projects must be understood both in relation to transnational human rights discourses and debates regarding post-violence truth and reconciliation, the seminar provides students with the theoretical and ethnographic tools to map out how distinct actors–like forensic experts, memory activists, image-makers, and victims’ kin–engage with unearthed evidence in order to produce and mobilize new narratives about the past. [ Course designed for NYU - Madrid ]
Community, Society, and Culture /
How can “culture” and “society” be approached as objects of study and what is revealed by paying attention to them? This course introduces students to the field of sociocultural anthropology by addressing its methodological roots and theoretical contributions. In doing so, we track the key topics that have shaped sociocultural anthropology as a discipline over time while also sampling contemporary dilemmas in anthropological research and theory, thus emphasizing how the field has shifted and changed in order to meet the needs of an increasingly globalized world. Themes include economic systems, circulation, and the production of value; political systems and modes of governance; anthropology’s colonial legacy and it attempts to address and undo it; indigenous media and experimental ethnography; globalization; science and technology; capital flows and debt; and gender. [ Course designed for IE University ]
Immigration, Ethnicity, and Nation in Contemporary Spain /
This interdisciplinary course focuses on one of the most important recent developments in Spanish society: mass immigration from Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Spain’s long history of expulsions, enforced religious uniformity, colonialism, contending regional and national identities and loyalties, and the marginalization of the Roma minority, provides an obvious starting point from which to consider both migrant experiences in Spain and the way migration is reconfiguring contemporary attitudes and identities in Spanish society. Against this historical background, the course will examine the dynamics and demographics of migration to/from Spain and consider how migrant communities shape the push and pull of urban life. Class discussions and readings will analyze the Spanish response to immigration, whether in the shape of laws and public policies, cinematic and media representations of migrants, or public attitudes and behavior towards newcomers and ethnic minorities, including racism. [ Course designed for University of California Study Abroad Program ]
Community Educational & Cultural Programming /
In addition to my university teaching, I am committed to exploring how to reach broader communities through educational and cultural programming. I have a long trajectory of collaborating with artists, makers, museums, and institutions to create spaces of debate and artistic experimentation. I have also coordinated community maker programs, digital media literacy workshops and discussion groups for young women.
I welcome opportunities to teach on the following topics:
Memory, history, and the production of knowledge in post-violence contexts; History of anthropology and photography; Archives and cultures of documentation; Visual ethnographic methods; Evidence and the social production of truth; Museum collections as sites for the production of knowledge; Film production and visual narrative; Memory politics in the Iberian Atlantic.
Sample syllabi and learning programs are available upon request. In addition to to the courses described here, I have descriptions for graduate level courses on the following themes: Narrating the Past: Photography, Film and the Archive; Collecting Ephemeral Art; and The Human on Display