What is your favorite part of teaching WSGS affiliated courses?
My "favorite part" is the students who enroll in WSGS courses -- especially those who decide to major or minor in WSGS -- who are choosing to open their minds to new kinds of thinking rather than just earning a grade or getting a job. They are taking a risk in order to help change themselves and the world!
What interested you in teaching courses that promote social justice and the use of analysis through feminist and queer lens?
Teaching is a way to reach many minds and hearts, and it's important for students of all genders and backgrounds to be aware of sex/gender diversity, social and structural barriers to equity, and the sometimes blatant erasure of the lives and ideas of marginalized peoples.
What is your area of research and what are you working on now?
My work revolves around Latinx literature, queer and feminist theory, disability studies, alternatives to humanism, and unconventional archives. Two years ago I published Shared Selves: Latinx Memoir and Ethical Alternatives to Humanism, which looks beyond competitive individualism and anthropocentrism to notice ways in which individual selfhood is intertwined with broader ecosystems. My new project is an experiment in inclusive knowledge-making: working in speculative, non-didactic, and multi-voiced modes so as not to center my own voice. An example of this, “The Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa Papers and Radical Research Practices: A Collage,” will be published in the Journal of the Association for the Study of Arts of the Present (ASAP) later this month.
What advice would you offer someone considering taking a WSGS related course?
Join the course with an open mind and an open heart. Expect to hear new perspectives and to learn new frameworks. Expect to make close connections with your classmates. Set the world on fire!