Teaching

New York University, New York, NY

Department of Media, Culture and Comunication

Adjunct Assistant Professor

2013-2014: “Copyright, Commerce and Culture”
This course examines the basic tenets and operative principles of the global copyright system. We will consider the ways in which media industries, artists, and consumers interact with the copyright system and assesses how well it serves its stated purposes: to encourage art and creativity. Special emphasis will be on the social, cultural, legal, and political issues that have arisen in recent years as a result of new communicative technologies.

2014: “Media, Technology and Society”
This course introduces students to a range of theories and approaches to the study of technology so as to provide various perspectives on the co-construction of society and technology, and the role of media in that dynamic.

2012-2014: “Media and Cultural Analysis”
This course surveys key methods that have shaped the study of media. We will explore how meaning is produced through the formal codes, styles, and conventions of media texts; the structure and operation of media industries; interpretations and appropriations of viewers; and the context of a wide range of media in our society. The purpose throughout the semester will be to understand and effectively apply various methods of media criticism through discussing a wide range of media texts, industries, and practices. View the course blog.

2010-2014: “Introduction to Digital Media”
This course is an introduction to digital media, focusing on their cultural, political, economic and environmental dimensions. We will employ diverse perspectives in order to explore the role of digital media in media industries, professions and discourses that they produce; the ways in which digital circulation of media texts affects their meaning; and the role of digital media in our cultural constructions of gender and sexuality, class, race, ability and personhood. We will also investigate how people around the world in their digital media practices reconfigure identities, relationships, creativity, and political engagement. The purpose will be to broaden our notions of what counts—conceptually and geographically—in understanding the new regimes of circulation and power introduced by digital technologies. View the reading schedule and the course blog.

2010: “Media and Global Communication”
This interdisciplinary undergraduate seminar investigates transnational media flows and their role in economic, political, technological, and cultural dimensions of globalization. We will consider the most important approaches to globalization and media developed in critical political economy, cultural policy, cultural studies, and finely grained ethnographic case studies. Through readings and discussions, students will analyze the role of transnational media in reorganizing cultural meanings, distance and proximity, labor, finance and movement, perceptions of similarity and difference, and national and local identities. We will also examine whether global flows of media and supra-national media policies challenge or reinforce the influence of national forms of law, regulation and governance. View the reading schedule for this course.

Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

Center for Cultural Analysis

Spring 2009: Instructor, “Literature and Technology: Online Ethnography”
Designed and taught an interdisciplinary undergraduate seminar. Class discussions critically examined the novelty of the internet, the significance of online connections, and the intimacy of online experiences. Readings combined ethnographies, new media studies, science and technology studies, journalism, activism, and fiction. Students conducted semester-long individual projects in online research and writing. View the blog and the reading schedule for this course.

Wagner College, Staten Island, NY

Spring 2008: Adjunct Assistant Professor, “Anthropology 101”
Designed and taught an introductory course in cultural anthropology. Readings included contemporary and classical anthropological approaches to culture, human nature, and the diversity of human social organization, beliefs, and symbols. Exercises introduced students to the participant observation research method.

New York University, New York, NY

Department of Anthropology

Spring 2008: Adjunct Instructor, “Human Society and Culture”
Designed and taught a freshman-level introduction to cultural anthropology. Discussions explored anthropological perspectives on the critical problems in contemporary world. Contemporary and selected classical readings introduced students to the concepts of culture, ritual, kinship, socialization, exchange, commoditization and consumption. Exercises familiarized students with the participant observation research method.

Fall 2007: Adjunct Instructor, “Cultural Symbols”
Designed and taught an advanced undergraduate seminar that explored the uses of symbols in myth, ritual, politics, science, technology, media and art. Readings and discussions addressed the processes through which symbols gain significance; the effect of forms of representation and communication on meaning; the use of narrative, ritual, and metaphor.

Fall 2005: Teaching Assistant, “Peoples of Europe”
Graded exercises and papers. Developed materials for student evaluation.

Fall 2003: Teaching Assistant, “Medical Anthropology”
Graded exercises and papers. Developed materials for student evaluation.

2001-2003: Teaching Assistant, “ Human Society and Culture”
Graded exercises and papers. Developed materials for student evaluation. Led discussion sections.

Goucher College, Baltimore, MD

1998-1999: Homework Grader, “Discrete Mathematics”
Graded homework exercises and exams.

1997-1999: Student Lab Monitor for French Courses
Led weekly language lab sections.

1997-1999: Student Instructor for Computer Science Courses
Graded homework exercises and exams.