I have taught courses in the Department of Religious Studies and the Health Studies Program at McMaster University at both the undergraduate and graduate level. I have also taught courses at the University of Toronto and University of Calgary in the Departments of Women’s Studies and Anthropology.  I am accustomed to and welcome the demands of teaching in interdisciplinary programs for classes that range considerably in size.

Throughout my teaching endeavours, my teaching philosophy has emphasized a critical social-constructionist approach. This approach allows me to help students deconstruct common assumptions about what is “naturally” right or true; encourage them to grapple with the complexities of difference in the construction of gender, religion, and health; and recognize the roles of history and power in creating those constructions. This approach also serves to help students learn to read others’ texts critically and to write their own papers with an eye to how some constructions are conveyed and bolstered, while others are silenced and ignored.

Undergraduate Courses:

Introduction to Health Studies (HST1A03), Health Studies Program, Fall/Winter 2005; large (n=250) first year lecture course. Team taught with Dr. A. Gildiner.

Islam in the Modern World (RS2V03), Department of Religious Studies, Fall 2005, second-year lecture course.

Health in Cross-Cultural and International Perspective (HST4D03), Health Studies Program, Fall 2003, Winter 2005, Fall 2005; fourth-year seminar.

Health, Healing, and Religion (RS2WW3), Department of Religious Studies,Winter 2004, McMaster University; large (n=170) second-year lecture course.

Health Knowledge (HST3B03), Department of Religious Studies, Winter 2004; third-year lecture and discussion course.

Anthropology of Women and Gender, 2001-02, University of Toronto; lecture and discussion, upper-level.

Introduction to Women’s Studies, 2001-02, University of Toronto; large (n=300) lecture course.

Anthropology Unit, Scientific Perspectives on Sex and Gender, 2001-02, 2000-01, University of Toronto; large (n=150)lecture, team-taught; second-year course critically examining studies of sex and gender in three units: psychology, anthropology, and biology.

Anthropology of Gender, Summer 2000, University of Calgary; intensive summer session; upper-level seminar.

Graduate courses:

Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Islam (RS788), Department of Religious Studies,Winter 2006.

Ritual and Symbolic Healing (RS796), Department of Religious Studies,Fall 2003, Winter 2005.