2023 Incoming Distinguished Lecturer, City College, City University of New York
After ten incredible semesters at The New School, I am beginning a new assignment as a Distinguished Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, Gender, and International Studies at City College at the City University of New York (CUNY).
In 2017, Professor Deva Woodly invited me to join The New School as their inaugural Activist-in-Residence.
I’ve spent five years there, and during that time, I taught three courses, engaged in cross-disciplinary study, research, and writing, and became part of an incredible, inclusive cohort of students and faculty working through tenets of critical inquiry, community-building, growth, trust, integrity, change, knowledge-sharing, and love of self and community—all necessary ingredients for successful movement-building and transformation.
My time at The New School has profoundly influenced my movement work— something Deva hypothesized.
Most importantly, my relationships with my students softened and re-inspired me as a communicator. My classroom is warm, inviting, and a place where we use our experiences and stories to examine the systems that impact our lives in generative and challenging ways.
Holding dual roles as a movement worker and a teacher reified the relationship between scholarship and movement-building for me. On the one hand, I was studying and discussing in real time how the past’s social, economic, and political forces help us understand the present. And on the other hand, developing, implementing, and evaluating strategies using those same lessons to shape the future.
That is why I am overjoyed to contribute to the mission of advancing research and knowledge, educating the whole people, and inspiring, collaborating with, and challenging the next generation of movement workers committed to building narrative power for our shared liberatory future.