Analyzing Culture on TV
In my sociology of culture course, I use popular television shows to explore sociological perspectives on culture. The premise of this class is that we can learn a great deal about how culture is constructed, shared, consumed, and contested from watching (and critically analyzing) television shows. We focus on how cultural change occurs, with a focus on changing cultures of work and changing cultures of love, and students write a sociologically informed TV review.
Cities and Social Change
In my writing intensive urban studies course, students learn about the history and sociology of urbanization in the United States and across the globe, and they undertake their own urban research projects to better understand implications of urbanization in the cities they live in. Weekly topics include suburbanization, segregation, gentrification, and globalization.
Nonreligious Cultures and
Communities in the United States
In this course, I ask students to critically examine the changing landscape of religion and nonreligion in the United States, placing contemporary American atheism, agnosticism, and humanism in sociological and historical context. Students engage in a research study of a nonreligious organization and engage with media stories about American religion and nonreligion.
Introduction to Sociology
This course is often the first place that students learn about sociological thinking and methods, and the version that I’ve developed focuses on intersectionality, social stratification, and the ways that structural and geographic locations intersect to shape social outcomes. The course also focuses on teaching students to be informed consumers of social science and shows students the various ways that sociological perspectives inform the current events and pressing social issues they care about.
Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies
In my introduction to gender studies course, I focus on introducing students to both historical and sociological perspectives. After introducing students to major concepts and theories in gender and sexuality studies, we spend four weeks reading and discussing the history and waves of feminism in the United States. Students also learn about the ways that major institutions in American society are gendered, including media, education, family, and religion.