My goal as a teacher is to help students develop diverse ways of thinking and reflect on their beliefs, attitudes, and actions by engaging with marginalized literature and underrecognized thought. I aim to enhance their critical thinking skills, increase their awareness of conceptual and historical constructs, and foster a sense of intellectual emancipation. To achieve my teaching goals, I will adopt decolonial and feminist approaches. For example, I may begin with Marshall Hodgson's “In the center of the map” from Rethinking World History and then explore selections from Samir Amin's Eurocentrism and Linda Tuhiwai Smith's Decolonizing Methodologies.
In my course ‘Political Authority and Legitimacy in Islamic Political Thought,’ students will critically examine the complexities of leadership and their implications for contemporary governance. My course ‘Feminist Thought from the Majority World’ explores the relationship between colonialism, capitalism, globalization, patriarchy, and territory in postcolonial societies and how the epistemologies of these societies serve as sites for transformative politics.
To counter the view of fundamental differences underlying the “clash of civilizations” thesis, my course ‘Continuity in Intellectual History’ shows the diverse forms of contact among different groups in Asia, Africa, and Europe and how they all contributed to the construction and transmission of knowledge. Students will read some passages from Ibn Khaldūn's Al-Muqaddima on the acquisition and translation of Greek, Persian, and Indian scientific and philosophical works into Arabic, and the translation of works from Arabic to Latin. They will also virtually visit the Vatican Museums to explore The School of Athens by Raphael (painted between 1508 and 1511) and what the figure of Ibn Rushd/Averroes (d. 1198 CE) represents.
In class, I will implement a dynamic teaching strategy that combines short lectures with active learning techniques to encourage student participation, discussion, and reflection. For example, I will use the Background Knowledge Probe to determine the best starting point for the class. Additionally, I will implement a Misconception Check, asking students to indicate their agreement or disagreement with common misconceptions using Mentimeter interactive software.
Course readings and assignments will enhance students' academic and communication skills and promote collaborative learning. For instance, in the ‘Continuity in Intellectual History’ course, students will engage in a small-group assignment where they select a particular text and create a presentation illustrating the networks and flow of knowledge using digital tools like Gephi. In all courses, I will use feedback models from emerging trends in pedagogy, such as the Plus/Delta periodical evaluation, enabling me to monitor student learning and level of engagement.
Knowledge construction and intellectual growth require a safe, supportive, and respectful environment. My responsibility is to cultivate a space of openness and diverse viewpoints, free from prejudice or assumptions. In addition, I do not categorize students under the guise of acknowledging their differences but instead see the layered identities and diverse backgrounds of all students while being mindful of historical and ongoing discrimination against minoritized and disadvantaged groups.
In conclusion, my teaching philosophy emphasizes that human beings are thinking creatures, and that scientific and philosophical inquiry is a natural part of being human, not limited to any one group. Students leave my courses with an understanding of constructed categories and histories, equipped with the skills to diversify their sources and examine topics from multiple scholarly perspectives, enabling them to assess information independently and become reflexive knowledge makers.
