Think about a course that you are currently most excited about teaching. Why is this an important course? How does it deepen one’s understanding of the world?
I get a lot out of teaching a course entitled "Indigenous Movements in Latin America". It generates insight into Latin American societies, and into global geopolitics, through an interdisciplinary approach to studying indigenous movements.
Indigenous movements have been pivotal actors in the shaping of contemporary conceptions of democracy, citizenship and statecraft in Latin America, and have also drawn attention globally. Students who complete this course gain insight into cultural diversity of Latin American societies and acquire analytical tools for studying and understanding a wide variety of topics associated with political structure and agency in the continent.
What are the five most salient materials from your course, and why is each important?
Diani, M. (1992): The concept of social movement. The Sociological Review, 40(1): 1–25
An article that helps to problematise, in an accessible way, the concept of 'social movement' - of widespread usage, but rarely defined or used in practice with conceptual clarity.
A fantastic ethnographic study of labour process, cultural production and class formation in Andean Bolivia. It is very relevant to understand the current political scene in the country.
Ramos, Alcida Rita (1994): “The hyperreal Indian”. Critique of Anthropology 14(2): 153-17.
Alcida Ramos, a Brazilian scholar, produced a brilliant piece of critique with this paper, showing how 'definitions' matter in practice - the politics of identity are never only about identity.
An original intervention in debates around "Fair Trade", labour and indigenous politics.
My own study of indigenous movements and Venezuelan politics. I like to expose my own research to critical scrutiny from students (plus I consider that my book presents novel perspectives on the analysis of state-civil society dynamics in contemporary Latin America!).
What is a dream course that you’d be interested in teaching in the future?
I would like to teach a course entitled "The Search for Causalities". It would be a course showing something very simple but often misunderstood: the fact that no one (neither scientists nor 'lay' people) approaches 'the world out there' without preconceptions. A great way to showing this, and to explaining the practical implications that it has in our lives, is to pick a variety of 'issues' and to examine how different people, from professional politicians to activists to social scientists, seek to resolve them (e.g. what to do with public political symbols, and why? why there is racism, and what can be done to overcome it?).
What is a book that changed your life as a high schooler?
The most influential readings I made as a high schooler were, without exception, literary works. For me, literature was a great opening to thinking about people and society. It will sound more common that it probably is, but I (fully!) read Cervante's Don Quixote in the few months preceding my university studies, and it marked my memory and feeling for years to come - it is an exhilarating, melancholic, understanding and inspiring take on life in society, and on social hierarchy and change!
What is one piece of advice that you’d give to new teachers?
Treasure and defend the time and space you share with students and other teachers. Access to public education should be a right, but it is, unfortunately, becoming an endangered right. So treasure your position as a facilitator of formal education, and defend it.
I would also recommend any new teacher to come into the classroom with idealistic goals and realistic expectations. This apparent paradox is, in my view, key to facilitating a fruitful educational experience. One needs to be idealistic in appreciating education as a unique process for the generation of social, civic persons - not only knowledge holders. In parallel, one should be realistic in a double sense: first, understanding what one can do within the specific constraints one works within (temporal, material, or otherwise); second, understanding that we work with persons who have different backgrounds, strengths, moods and motivations. Try to channel all that into the creation of the best possible conditions for everyone to pursue knowledge and understanding of the world. And never despair!