I have designed and taught undergraduate courses in sociology and queer studies at Penn and Bryn Mawr College. In 2021, I received the Lynda S. Hart Teaching Award from the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program at Penn, which recognizes teachers who have cultivated a learning environment that facilitates, encourages, and engages feminist critique and who prioritize inclusive classroom practices.
Sociology of Deviance
Sex, drugs, and… corporate malfeasance? Why are some behaviors and identities considered more morally acceptable than others? Who or what decides? How are boundaries of difference enforced? How do these boundaries wax and wane over time? In this course, we will analyze the origins, development, and reactions surrounding deviance in society. We will examine how behaviors are constructed as “deviant” or “normal,” and how people exhibiting these behaviors experience the world. We will examine core theories of deviance and social control and analyze deviant acts and identities through different theoretical lenses. We will consider why deviance is often associated with “low life” in both society and the sociological literature, and we will consider how deviant behaviors exhibited by the wealthy and powerful are treated in society. We will also examine how the social media age shapes deviance. Through this course, we will hone our “sociological imagination” through critical reading, writing, and speaking.
The Study of Gender in Society
This course will provide a conceptual and topical introduction to the sociological study of gender. We will investigate what gender is and how it relates to sex and sexuality. We will explore how gender is conceptualized as a thing we do, a belief we internalize, and a social structure that shapes both our individual life chances and our biggest institutions such as school, work, and the family. Gender is not constituted in a vacuum, and we will investigate how gender intersects with other important social locations, such as race, class, sexuality, and nationality. We will assess how gendered norms, values, and identities change over time, and we will consider the future of gender and ask: Can we break the gendered wheel?
Intro to Sexuality Studies and Queer Theory
This course provides an interdisciplinary grounding in historical and theoretical foundations of sexuality studies and queer theory. A critical interrogation of sex, gender, sexuality, pleasure, and embodiment will provide students with a framework for producing their own queer cultural critique. We will explore LGBTQ history alongside contemporary queer cultural studies. This course will also address the intersections of sexuality and gender with race, class, ability, age, nationality, and religion. We will explore how historical, social, political, and economic systems have shaped and reshaped what it means to be queer or claim queer identity in the United States and abroad. Students will engage with multiple disciplinary approaches that have both shaped queer studies and have been shaped by queer methods.