Teaching & Research

Bookshelf - Photo by Alfons Morales on Unsplash

Teaching Experience

Bard College / Al-Quds University, Abu Dis, Palestine

Lecturer in Human Rights and Writing

Courses Taught:

  • Human Rights in Armed Conflict
  • English Composition
  • First-Year Seminar

Teaching and Research Interests

No Saviors: Non-Profits, Foundations, Social Movements, and Solidarity

  • Non-profits and foundations: Objectives, critiques, and alternative approaches / saviorism (particularly, the ‘White savior complex’), White supremacy, and ‘do no harm’ in non-profits and foundations
  • Advocacy and communications skills (including how to write advocacy and communications strategies, advocacy letters, op-eds, and press releases)
  • Solidarity: solidarity economies, solidarity grantmaking, and international solidarity
  • Social movements in the U.S. and other countries: Connections and lessons
  • Anti-colonialism and decolonization

Ethics in Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs

  • Civilian protection and ‘humanitarian intervention’: Objectives, critiques, and alternative approaches
  • Critiques of the framework and application of human rights
  • Collective rights

Reimagining Public Safety

  • Policing and public safety (examining the legal aspects, alternative approaches to public safety, and campaigns and movements from around the world)

Turning Inward: Human Rights, Atrocities, and Inequality in the United States / Turtle Island

  • Past and present human rights violations, mass atrocities, and inequality in the U.S. (Turtle Island) – from the history of slavery and genocide to their current legacy and other violence and inequities, including: the criminal “justice” system, the immigrant detention system, and racial, ethnic, class, gender, and other disparities in education, health, housing, employment, wealth, and voting rights

Finding Connections: Human Rights, Atrocities, and Inequality Across Borders

  • Past and current violations of International Humanitarian, Human Rights, and Criminal Law in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Myanmar, Palestine, Ukraine, and other places

The Science and Practice of Happiness, Community, Belonging, and Health

  • What the study of happiness, community, belonging, and health tell us about how to live more intentional and fulfilling lives

Design Your Life

  • What design principles and the study of happiness, community, belonging, and health tell us about how to design more intentional and fulfilling lives

Photo Credit (Unsplash):

Alfons Morales