I am a teacher, scholar, grief worker, and itinerant philosopher who currently resides in Asheville, NC. Within academic circles, I am most active in the Performance Philosophy research network where I function as a curator of ideas and co-editor of the Book Series and Online Journal. In the realm of grief work, my wife and I are building Inviting Abundance, a consulting business that promotes the cultivation of a creative grief practice. As a philosopher, I am deeply committed to learning about the world in which we live. My most recent projects dive into the poetry and philosophy of Jay Wright. And, finally, as a teacher, I am seeking a work environment in which I can help to re-think what precisely "learning" might be.
On Teaching:
I distinguish between teaching and teaching something. The former calls for a committed engagement with ethics and critical thinking, which, in the United States today, means devising tactics to deconstruct 1.) the explicit and institutionalized exclusionary practices visible in, for example, the deaths of Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown (to name but a few), and 2.) the capitalist fervor for consumption that would like to transform university education from a training ground for creative thinkers into a preparatory academy for the inexorable world of work. Teaching something, by distinction, and in my case this is usually teaching theatre history or dramatic literature, means guiding students through a well-traversed and adeptly mapped field of disciplinary-specific knowledge in order to introduce the vocabulary and methodological know-how that will enable students to join the conversations going on in that field. Preserving and calling to mind the distinction between teaching and teaching something helps me to remember that all encounters with the past, either through text, image, or repertoire, produce affects in the present. Students should never simply memorize names, dates, and facts, but, instead, search adamantly for connections between historical events and the world in which they live. I argue that finding these connections will strengthen students’ abilities to think historically, which, in turn, will expose the structures undergirding “business as usual” (and “school as usual”) in the present and then lead, perhaps, to the dismantling of those structures.
Want to read more about my thoughts on Teaching and Learning? Follow that link or click here to read a recent statement of teaching philosophy.
I have completed and/or sketched-out several pedagogical experiments such as:
Up until recently, my teaching transpired in the setting of the University where I taught undergraduate theatre history and dramatic literature courses as well as graduate seminars in philosophy, literature, and dramatic criticism. In the present, however, I am thinking about what else teaching might look like. Performance Philosophy provides a lot of exciting ideas about what scholarship and disciplined thinking might look like, but, in addition to the projects unfolding the umbrella of that organization, I am keen to create new alliances within the United States in order to explore the possibilities of creating an educational environment unfettered by the confines of traditional pedagogical models.
I distinguish between teaching and teaching something. The former calls for a committed engagement with ethics and critical thinking, which, in the United States today, means devising tactics to deconstruct 1.) the explicit and institutionalized exclusionary practices visible in, for example, the deaths of Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown (to name but a few), and 2.) the capitalist fervor for consumption that would like to transform university education from a training ground for creative thinkers into a preparatory academy for the inexorable world of work. Teaching something, by distinction, and in my case this is usually teaching theatre history or dramatic literature, means guiding students through a well-traversed and adeptly mapped field of disciplinary-specific knowledge in order to introduce the vocabulary and methodological know-how that will enable students to join the conversations going on in that field. Preserving and calling to mind the distinction between teaching and teaching something helps me to remember that all encounters with the past, either through text, image, or repertoire, produce affects in the present. Students should never simply memorize names, dates, and facts, but, instead, search adamantly for connections between historical events and the world in which they live. I argue that finding these connections will strengthen students’ abilities to think historically, which, in turn, will expose the structures undergirding “business as usual” (and “school as usual”) in the present and then lead, perhaps, to the dismantling of those structures.
Want to read more about my thoughts on Teaching and Learning? Follow that link or click here to read a recent statement of teaching philosophy.
I have completed and/or sketched-out several pedagogical experiments such as:
- A "bootleg" course in "parapedagogical" encounter.
- An artistic foray into the many dimensions of "entrance"
- Plans for the U.S. arm of the Invisible College
- Minute tactical interventions into university curricula
- A course for adults on race and philosophy based on the dialogues facilitated by George Yancy in the NY Times.
Up until recently, my teaching transpired in the setting of the University where I taught undergraduate theatre history and dramatic literature courses as well as graduate seminars in philosophy, literature, and dramatic criticism. In the present, however, I am thinking about what else teaching might look like. Performance Philosophy provides a lot of exciting ideas about what scholarship and disciplined thinking might look like, but, in addition to the projects unfolding the umbrella of that organization, I am keen to create new alliances within the United States in order to explore the possibilities of creating an educational environment unfettered by the confines of traditional pedagogical models.
