teaching

Instructor of Record

Global Migration: A Critical Survey Spring 2026, Fall 2026

Migration is one of the most contentious issues of our time. Today, there are over 1 billion migrants globally, representing about 1 in 8 people on the planet. This includes over 763 million internal migrants, 304 million international migrants, and 123 million forcibly displaced individuals (WHO, 2022). This course offers a panoramic survey of seminal literature on the causes and consequences of migration from the perspective of both receiving and sending societies. In doing so, the course strive to understand how migration both shapes and is shaped by a complex interplay of institutional, political, economic and cultural factors. Specifically, the course examines how migrants are conceptualized and portrayed in existing academic and media discourse, why people move and what informs these decisions, how migration transforms receiving and sending societies economically, culturally, and politically, and how societies and states respond to immigration.

South Asia in Global Perspective: From Democracy to Conflict Spring 2026

This course provides an introduction to the society, economy, and politics of South Asia, a region that is home to a quarter of the world’s population. It is a region of striking contrasts: while it hosts the second largest share of the world’s extreme poor after Sub-Saharan Africa, it is also home to the some of its wealthiest individuals. How the region navigates its unique development challenges amidst the ongoing climate crisis, increasing rural-urban migration, and high levels of ethnic diversity will have profound implications for international peace and development. The course examines six major themes that build off each other: (i) Colonialism and its legacies, (ii) Nationalism and state formation, (iii) Identity and ethnic politics (iv) political economy of development, (v) migration and nativism, and (vi) civil society and social movements. In engaging with these themes, the course explores how colonialism has shaped modern day institutions and welfare outcomes across the region; why poor countries like India remain democratic, while other equally poor countries, such as Pakistan don’t, whether identity politics has strengthened or undermined democracy, why ethnic violence erupts and persists in some regions but not in others, the opportunities and challenges presented by large-scale internal and international migration, and the transformative potential of social movements.

Introduction to Global Studies Fall 2025, Fall 2026

This course provides an interdisciplinary approach to globally shared issues, processes, interactions and systems that affect people, communities, regions, nations, and our planet. Some topics the course examines include the effects of a globalized world economy, global poverty and inequality, migration and refugees, identity in a global age, colonization and decolonization, global ethics, and global social movements. The course takes seriously the interaction between the local and the global. It offers students an opportunity to more strongly command an understanding of their place in the world and an awareness and appreciation of differences through cross-cultural competence as well as a greater ability to mediate these differences. The interdisciplinary nature of the course demands multiple points of entry to communicate and analyze these issues beyond reading and writing, such as films, podcasts, lectures, and workshops. The course also allows for the examination of topical events through long-standing theories, concepts, and historical lenses in global studies.

Teaching Assistant

The Politics of Mexico Instructor: Jonathan Hiskey — Spring 2025

Identity Politics in the Non-Western World Instructor: Nina McMurry — Fall 2023

Justice: An Introduction Instructor: James Booth — Spring 2022

Introduction to Comparative Politics Instructor: Keith Weghorst — Spring 2021

Democratization and Political Development Instructor: Keith Weghorst — Fall 2020

The Politics of Global Inequality Instructor: Jonathan Hiskey — Spring 2020

Middle East Politics Instructor: Katherine Carroll — Fall 2019