- Sociology and Cultural Studies Research Group
- Centre for Social Justice Research
About me
Since 2017 I have held a joint appointment at Westminster as University Director of Student Partnership in the Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation and Principal Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences.
I teach gender studies and critical education studies, and my research interests are at the intersections of literature, gender studies, queer theory and critical pedagogies. Commitments to anti-racist and decolonising practices are at the heart of my approach to teaching and research.
Prior to coming to Westminster I was Deputy Director of the Centre for Transformative Practice in Learning and Teaching at Birkbeck, University of London.
I was awarded a PhD in Latin American Cultural Studies from Birkbeck, University of London in 2008, a MA in Latin American Literature from the University of British Columbia in 1998 and a BA in Hispanic Studies and Political Science from the University of Victoria in 1995.
I am a 2016 National Teaching Fellow, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a founding member of the Critical Pedagogies Group (https://criticalpedagogiesproject.com) and the Pedagogies for Social Justice Project (https://blog.westminster.ac.uk/psj/)
Teaching
Three principles frame how I approach teaching.
First, my work is motivated by a desire to create inclusive practices that make higher education accessible to learners from non-traditional backgrounds through creating institutional and classroom cultures that embrace development, instead of deficit, models of learning. Second, I believe that transformation requires relationships of mutuality in which everyone – students, teachers and institutions – are open to learning and changing. Third, I am committed to a feminist, queer and decolonial ethos of teaching that is grounded in collaborative practices and non-hierarchical methods, which, in turn, require attentiveness to power and how it shapes classroom and institutional relations.
I currently lead and co-lead modules such as Gender, Education and Identity; LGBTQ Studies and the Dissertation in Sociology.
Research
My research interests are at the intersections of literature, gender studies, queer theory and critical pedagogies. Methodologically, I work collaboratively through auto-ethnography, storytelling, creative and participatory methods, with attention and commitment to disrupting the traditional power lines of research and knowledge creation.
I am currently working on two projects.
The first, Non-Binary in Higher Education: Lived Experiences, Imagined Futures, is a collaborative research project established in 2019 with Dr Francis Ray White (University of Westminster) and Raf Benato (City, University of London). The project uses participatory methods to understand the experiences of non-binary staff and students in universities and to create spaces for non-binary people involved in higher education to come together and dream different futures. The project hosts skills sharing, public engagement and knowledge exchange events. It moves between academic and activist spaces to open conversations across disciplinary, institutional and public boundaries. www.nbinhe.com
The second, Pedagogies for Social Justice Project, is a student : staff partnership project committed to centring student and minoritised voices in our values, beliefs and experiences and to using these to dismantle contemporary forms of coloniality in curricula, relationships and research. The project team and steering group co-create tools for teaching and research such as a podcast, reading lists, glossary and study group. We host events, such as a Festival of Decolonial Learning, research meetings with other universities (UK and international) and public engagement activities. https://blog.westminster.ac.uk/psj/
PhD Supervision:
I would be happy to hear from students interested in studying for an MPhil or PhD in gender studies, queer theory, critical pedagogies and decolonial methods.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.