Teaching

I currently convene and teach three modules:

  • The Body: current controversies and debates is a 12-week optional module for third-year undergraduate and MA students. It develops a political sociology of gender and the body, exploring how debates are constructed around issues such as HIV/AIDS, sexual violence, sex work, transgender identities, childbirth and breastfeeding, and gender and Islam. Students think through these debates in relation to the rhetorics and conceptual models being constructed and the political allegiances being made, contextualising these within the dominant neoliberal/neoconservative economic and political framework. Attention is paid to the intersection of different social categories such as gender, class, 'race', sexual orientation, age, and (dis)ability, and how these shape the way issues are discussed.
  • Gender Politics and Social Research is a Masters-level 12-week core module, which approaches feminist methodology at advanced levels, critically exploring feminist research on a number of different issues (for instance, abortion and the sex industry) and engaging with the politics of the research process itself. As a core module on the Gender Studies MA, it is intended to prepare students for conducting independent research and producing their dissertation. The bulk of the module introduces different methodologies and methods, encouraging students to reflect critically on their strengths and weaknesses, and how feminists have used them in the service of political projects. In the last part of the module, students design research projects on one of two case-study issues and attempt to operationalise key feminist theories. 
  • Critical Reading in Advanced Feminist Theory is a Masters-level 12-week core module which approaches feminist theory at advanced levels and helps students develop their capacities for critical thinking and become more autonomous as learners. The module does not have a reading list: each week students read freely on a theme (some examples are sex, labour, culture and identity) and come together in an 'open space' format to discuss and make connections across thinkers and ideas. It also uses action-based learning techniques such as Lego Serious Play to encourage students to engage with theory in deeper ways, rather than merely absorbing information from texts. 

I also teach two sessions on core first-year module Themes and Perspectives in Sociology, focused on feminist social and political theory. These are publicly available and can be downloaded from my blog. 

I supervise a number of PhD candidates in various areas related to my research interests, including sexual harassment in Saudi hospitals, classed narratives of abortion, and sex work and motherhood in Zambia.