My goal as a teacher is to help students develop diverse ways of thinking and critically reflect on the beliefs, assumptions, and categories that shape how they understand the world by engaging with marginalized literature and underrecognized intellectual traditions. 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 different conceptions of political authority, leadership, and legitimacy and consider their implications for questions of governance. In ‘Feminist Thought from the Majority World’ students explore relationships among colonialism, capitalism, globalization, patriarchy, and territory in postcolonial societies and examine how epistemologies emerging from these contexts can become sites of political transformation.

My course Continuity in Intellectual History challenges assumptions of fundamental separation among civilizations by examining the diverse forms of contact, exchange, and intellectual transmission among communities across Asia, Africa, and Europe and how they all contributed to the construction and transmission of knowledge. Students will engage with passages from Ibn Khaldūn's Al-Muqaddima concerning the acquisition and translation of Greek, Persian, and Indian scientific and philosophical works into Arabic, as well as the transmission of Arabic works into Latin. They will also virtually visit the Vatican Museums to examine Raphael’s School of Athens and consider what the inclusion and representation of Ibn Rushd (Averroes, d. 1198 CE) reveals about the movement of knowledge across intellectual and cultural boundaries.

In the classroom, I combine short lectures with active-learning practices that encourage participation, discussion, and reflection. For example, I will use techniques such as the Background Knowledge Probe to identify students’ prior knowledge and determine appropriate starting points for instruction. I also use Misconception Checks, including interactive tools such as Mentimeter, to invite students to examine and reconsider assumptions about historical and intellectual subjects. 

Course readings and assignments are designed to strengthen students’ analytical, academic, and communication skills while encouraging collaborative learning. For instance, in ‘Continuity in Intellectual History’, students will work in small groups to select a text and use digital tools such as Gephi to visualize networks and flows of knowledge. I also incorporate regular opportunities for feedback and reflection, including Plus/Delta evaluations, to assess student learning and engagement and to adapt my teaching accordingly.

I believe that intellectual growth requires a classroom environment grounded in openness, respect, and intellectual freedom. My responsibility is to create a space in which students can express and examine different viewpoints without prejudice or assumptions about one another. I recognize that students bring layered identities and diverse experiences to the classroom, while remaining mindful of the historical and continuing forms of discrimination against minoritized and disadvantaged groups that shape their access to knowledge and education. 

Ultimately, my teaching rests on the conviction that human beings are thinking creatures and that intellectual, scientific, and philosophical inquiry is not the preserve of any one culture, society, or group. I want students to leave my courses with a deeper understanding of how knowledge, categories, and histories are constructed, as well as the ability to question inherited assumptions, diversify their sources, and approach subjects from multiple scholarly perspectives. Most importantly, I hope they develop the confidence and intellectual agency to assess information independently, engage critically with the ideas of others, and participate thoughtfully in the ongoing construction of knowledge.