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 actually enjoy teaching Intro to Econ classes because students mostly have no prior knowledge and have not yet been introduced to the markedly single-minded and a-historical world of mainstream economic theory. No matter which specific Intro class I teach, I devote several sessions to the discussion of methods used in social sciences as well as a brief presentation of the history of thoughts at stake. This sets the stage for making references to the methodological and historical aspects every now and then throughout the semester, as well as putting the production of academic knowledge into its social and institutional context.

What are the five most salient materials from your course, and why is each important?

Maturana, Humberto R. and Varela, Francisco J. (1987) The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding. Boston: Shambhala. Chapter 1: Knowing How We Know.

McNally, David (1993) Against the Market. New York: Verso. Chapter 1: Origins of Capitalism and the Market.

Marx, Karl (1990) Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. I. London: Penguin Books. Chapter 10: The Working Day (Section 5: The Struggle for a Normal Working Day. Compulsory Laws for the Extension of the Working Day from the Middle of the 14th to the End of the 17th Century).

Chang, Ha-Joon (2002) "Kicking Away the Ladder: An Unofficial History of Capitalism, Especially in Britain and the United States", Challenge, 45 (5): 63-97.

Magdoff, Fred and Foster, John Bellamy (2011) What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism. New York: Monthly Review Press.

What is a dream course that you’d be interesting in teaching in the future?

Political Economy of the Environment

Comparative Economic Systems

What is a book that changed your life as a high schooler?

Maturana, Humberto R. and Varela, Francisco J. (1987) The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding. Boston: Shambhala. Chapter 1: Knowing How We Know.

What is a piece of advice that you’d give to new teachers?

Knowledge is not something that can be administered as a pill to students. Rather, it has to be explored and (re)constructed by the group engaged in the act of learning. This implies that the in-class experience has to be an interactive and reflexive process where students not only critically think about outcomes, but also the methods used.