Recent Courses (syllabi available upon request)
1. POLS 31: Borders and Migration
2. INTS 611: Democracy and Populism in Europe
3. POLS 54: Identity Politics
4. POLS 79: Islam, Race, and Empire
5. POLS 31: Middle East Politics
6. POLS 3: Politics Across the World
Borders and Migration (Swarthmore College)
This course offers an introduction to the causes and consequences of international migration and examines the political responses of different national communities to the phenomenon. In the first part of the course we will explore why and how people move from one country to another and analyze the strategies through which states attempt to manage mobility and exercise control over their territories. Students will learn about patterns of regular and irregular migration, including economic and undocumented migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. We will also interrogate the efficacy of border walls and other strategies of containment and control. In the second part of the course we will consider how migration transforms both sending and receiving countries and evaluate how countries accommodate (or fail to accommodate) newcomers to their territories. The growing ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity generated by international migratory flows has spawned fierce debates over national identity, social cohesion, and political stability. In order to make sense of these debates, we will analyze different regimes of immigrant integration, incorporation, and assimilation and evaluate the meaning of citizenship, social membership, and belonging. Classroom meetings will be supplemented with outside lectures and occasional field trips to Philadelphia to observe immigration hearings and to meet with NGOs and community organizations working on issues surrounding migrant rights and refugee re-settlement.
Democracy and Populism in Europe (University of Pennsylvania)
“A spectre is haunting Europe,” wrote Karl Marx in 1848. For Marx, this spectre was communism but in our own time, new spirits and social forces threaten to undermine the fragile political balance of the European continent. From “Brexit” and the Eurozone crisis, to the electoral victories of far-right, anti-establishment, and populist parties, to the socio-cultural and economic concerns raised by the arrival of more than one million refugees and asylum seekers, and the de-stabilizing effects of a resurgent and belligerent Russia, Europe today is a region characterized by great political uncertainty. This course offers students an introduction to contemporary issues in European politics. Over the course of the term, students will learn about the political structures, institutions, policy challenges, and domestic debates in a number of European countries including Belgium, Germany, Poland, and Sweden. Topics covered include the question of European identity and the history of European integration, the role of supranational institutions like the European Union, European Central Bank, and NATO in shaping domestic political and economic outcomes, the politics of immigration and immigrant incorporation, varieties of capitalism, transitions from socialism, and the crisis of the Eurozone, “Brexit,” and the rise of populism.
Identity Politics (Swarthmore College)
The term “identity politics” has become a mainstay of contemporary political discourse. In both scholarly and public debates, it is used to describe and make sense of phenomena as diverse as multiculturalism, civil rights, the women’s movement, white nationalism, LGBTQI activism, separatist groups, and violent ethnic conflicts. Identity is central to politics but are all identities political? Where do our identities come from and why do they matter for social and political life? Do we have the freedom to choose our own identities or are they ascribed to us by others? And to what extent do our identities dictate what we can do, think, know, say, or feel? This class offers an introduction to the politics of identity. Over the course of the semester, we will investigate how categories like class, race, gender, ethnicity, nation, religion, and sexuality impact politics and struggles for power across the world. The first part of the course introduces students to concepts like identity and identity politics, performance/performativity, authenticity, standpoint theory, intersectionality, power/knowledge, ideology, subject formation, and hegemony. Once we have developed a common vernacular and conceptual toolkit, we will delve into five books which speak to the politics of identity from a variety of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. During the course of the semester, students will conduct independent research on identity-related topics of their choice, culminating in a final research paper.
Islam, Race, and Empire (Swarthmore College)
Since 9/11, Muslims in Europe and the United States have been at the center of contentious political debates about the meaning of secularism, citizenship, and democracy. From Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban to feminist critiques of the Islamic headscarf, politicians and pundits across the political spectrum have questioned Islam’s compatibility with Western values and ways of life. These disputes belie longer and messier histories of empire, colonialism, and the War on Terror, through which categories such as “Islam” and “Muslims” have been racialized into a monolithic brown Other in contrast to the “West.” Drawing on a range of intellectual traditions, including postcolonial theory, ethnic studies, anthropology, and critical race studies, this course examines how imperial legacies and enduring ideas about racial, religious, and ethnic difference structure contemporary debates about Islam and Muslims in Europe and North America. Over the course of the semester, we will read works by prominent theorists such as Wendy Brown, Frantz Fanon, Lila Abu-Lughod, Mahmood Mamdani, Edward Said, and Gayatri Spivak, and discuss how Islam figures into public conversations about anti-Semitism, citizenship and democracy, gender and sexuality, multiculturalism, national identity, secularism, tolerance, and political violence. Through our readings and discussions, students will learn about the diversity of lived experiences of Muslims in Western societies and explore the connections between race, religion, and the afterlives of empire.
Middle East Politics (Swarthmore College)
This course offers an introduction to the politics of the Middle East and North Africa from World War I to the present. Throughout the semester, students will learn about political, economic, social, and cultural developments within and across a number of different countries in the region. Topics covered include colonialism, nationalism, and state formation; political Islam, revolutions, social movements, and the Arab Spring; the Kurdish question; the Syrian conflict and the rise of ISIS; and U.S. involvement in the region. Classes will be supplemented with outside lectures, workshops, and film screenings. No prior knowledge of the Middle East is necessary.
Politics Across the World (Swarthmore College)
This class is meant to serve as a foundation for advanced undergraduate study in political science and related social sciences by providing students with the intellectual tools to analyze, compare, evaluate, and develop arguments about complex socio-economic, cultural, and political phenomena across the world. The course is organized around four thematic units. We begin with an overview of the “world system” and investigate the conditions under which states are created, consolidated, and exercise their power. Our first set of readings address the imbricated histories of capitalism, colonialism, and state formation in an effort to make sense of the lasting legacies and uneven impacts that these processes have had on different parts of the world. We then explore the relationship between states, political membership, and identity by exploring why and how certain groups are incorporated or excluded from the “imagined community” of the nation. The third unit focuses on the political economy of development. We interrogate various definitions of “development” and evaluate how the economic, cultural, and political processes subsumed under the broader heading of globalization have helped facilitate and/or hindered development, economic growth, and poverty reduction across the globe. Our fourth unit investigates the meaning of democracy and the driving forces behind social movements and political change. We consider the challenges of political representation and participation and assess the successes and failures of various contemporary social movements
1. POLS 31: Borders and Migration
2. INTS 611: Democracy and Populism in Europe
3. POLS 54: Identity Politics
4. POLS 79: Islam, Race, and Empire
5. POLS 31: Middle East Politics
6. POLS 3: Politics Across the World
Borders and Migration (Swarthmore College)
This course offers an introduction to the causes and consequences of international migration and examines the political responses of different national communities to the phenomenon. In the first part of the course we will explore why and how people move from one country to another and analyze the strategies through which states attempt to manage mobility and exercise control over their territories. Students will learn about patterns of regular and irregular migration, including economic and undocumented migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. We will also interrogate the efficacy of border walls and other strategies of containment and control. In the second part of the course we will consider how migration transforms both sending and receiving countries and evaluate how countries accommodate (or fail to accommodate) newcomers to their territories. The growing ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity generated by international migratory flows has spawned fierce debates over national identity, social cohesion, and political stability. In order to make sense of these debates, we will analyze different regimes of immigrant integration, incorporation, and assimilation and evaluate the meaning of citizenship, social membership, and belonging. Classroom meetings will be supplemented with outside lectures and occasional field trips to Philadelphia to observe immigration hearings and to meet with NGOs and community organizations working on issues surrounding migrant rights and refugee re-settlement.
Democracy and Populism in Europe (University of Pennsylvania)
“A spectre is haunting Europe,” wrote Karl Marx in 1848. For Marx, this spectre was communism but in our own time, new spirits and social forces threaten to undermine the fragile political balance of the European continent. From “Brexit” and the Eurozone crisis, to the electoral victories of far-right, anti-establishment, and populist parties, to the socio-cultural and economic concerns raised by the arrival of more than one million refugees and asylum seekers, and the de-stabilizing effects of a resurgent and belligerent Russia, Europe today is a region characterized by great political uncertainty. This course offers students an introduction to contemporary issues in European politics. Over the course of the term, students will learn about the political structures, institutions, policy challenges, and domestic debates in a number of European countries including Belgium, Germany, Poland, and Sweden. Topics covered include the question of European identity and the history of European integration, the role of supranational institutions like the European Union, European Central Bank, and NATO in shaping domestic political and economic outcomes, the politics of immigration and immigrant incorporation, varieties of capitalism, transitions from socialism, and the crisis of the Eurozone, “Brexit,” and the rise of populism.
Identity Politics (Swarthmore College)
The term “identity politics” has become a mainstay of contemporary political discourse. In both scholarly and public debates, it is used to describe and make sense of phenomena as diverse as multiculturalism, civil rights, the women’s movement, white nationalism, LGBTQI activism, separatist groups, and violent ethnic conflicts. Identity is central to politics but are all identities political? Where do our identities come from and why do they matter for social and political life? Do we have the freedom to choose our own identities or are they ascribed to us by others? And to what extent do our identities dictate what we can do, think, know, say, or feel? This class offers an introduction to the politics of identity. Over the course of the semester, we will investigate how categories like class, race, gender, ethnicity, nation, religion, and sexuality impact politics and struggles for power across the world. The first part of the course introduces students to concepts like identity and identity politics, performance/performativity, authenticity, standpoint theory, intersectionality, power/knowledge, ideology, subject formation, and hegemony. Once we have developed a common vernacular and conceptual toolkit, we will delve into five books which speak to the politics of identity from a variety of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. During the course of the semester, students will conduct independent research on identity-related topics of their choice, culminating in a final research paper.
Islam, Race, and Empire (Swarthmore College)
Since 9/11, Muslims in Europe and the United States have been at the center of contentious political debates about the meaning of secularism, citizenship, and democracy. From Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban to feminist critiques of the Islamic headscarf, politicians and pundits across the political spectrum have questioned Islam’s compatibility with Western values and ways of life. These disputes belie longer and messier histories of empire, colonialism, and the War on Terror, through which categories such as “Islam” and “Muslims” have been racialized into a monolithic brown Other in contrast to the “West.” Drawing on a range of intellectual traditions, including postcolonial theory, ethnic studies, anthropology, and critical race studies, this course examines how imperial legacies and enduring ideas about racial, religious, and ethnic difference structure contemporary debates about Islam and Muslims in Europe and North America. Over the course of the semester, we will read works by prominent theorists such as Wendy Brown, Frantz Fanon, Lila Abu-Lughod, Mahmood Mamdani, Edward Said, and Gayatri Spivak, and discuss how Islam figures into public conversations about anti-Semitism, citizenship and democracy, gender and sexuality, multiculturalism, national identity, secularism, tolerance, and political violence. Through our readings and discussions, students will learn about the diversity of lived experiences of Muslims in Western societies and explore the connections between race, religion, and the afterlives of empire.
Middle East Politics (Swarthmore College)
This course offers an introduction to the politics of the Middle East and North Africa from World War I to the present. Throughout the semester, students will learn about political, economic, social, and cultural developments within and across a number of different countries in the region. Topics covered include colonialism, nationalism, and state formation; political Islam, revolutions, social movements, and the Arab Spring; the Kurdish question; the Syrian conflict and the rise of ISIS; and U.S. involvement in the region. Classes will be supplemented with outside lectures, workshops, and film screenings. No prior knowledge of the Middle East is necessary.
Politics Across the World (Swarthmore College)
This class is meant to serve as a foundation for advanced undergraduate study in political science and related social sciences by providing students with the intellectual tools to analyze, compare, evaluate, and develop arguments about complex socio-economic, cultural, and political phenomena across the world. The course is organized around four thematic units. We begin with an overview of the “world system” and investigate the conditions under which states are created, consolidated, and exercise their power. Our first set of readings address the imbricated histories of capitalism, colonialism, and state formation in an effort to make sense of the lasting legacies and uneven impacts that these processes have had on different parts of the world. We then explore the relationship between states, political membership, and identity by exploring why and how certain groups are incorporated or excluded from the “imagined community” of the nation. The third unit focuses on the political economy of development. We interrogate various definitions of “development” and evaluate how the economic, cultural, and political processes subsumed under the broader heading of globalization have helped facilitate and/or hindered development, economic growth, and poverty reduction across the globe. Our fourth unit investigates the meaning of democracy and the driving forces behind social movements and political change. We consider the challenges of political representation and participation and assess the successes and failures of various contemporary social movements