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#RESIST. Geography Building, Berkeley, CA. Photo Credit: SocImage

Teaching Philosophy

In teaching Geography courses, I want students to understand themselves – their histories, their knowledges, their practices – in relation to their communities and the world. I show how histories of expropriation, slavery and colonialism have produced and continue to produce our contemporary geographies of power and difference. I believe students learn best when they are analyzing social theory and grounding such theory in practice. I encourage students to draw on their experiences to transform the material we read. In so doing, I equip them with the tools for responding to urgent global challenges. 

I have honed my teaching skills by working with diverse students at diverse institutions on three continents over ten years. I have taught large lectures (~400) and small seminars (~20) at all levels - lower division, upper division, and graduate - in person and online. My courses draw on scholarship from critical human geography, political economy, critical race theory, and postcolonial/feminist science and technology studies. I have designed courses on Nature, Culture, Power and Global Environmental Politics at Berkeley; African Urbanisms and Problematising Cities from the South ​at the UWC. I have also taught Introduction to Human Geography; Economic Geographies; and Research Methods at Durham. In 2015, I received the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor of the Year Award at Berkeley.
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Photo Credit: Leopold Podlashuc

My Teaching

What Students Say

DURHAM UNIVERSITY
Introduction to Human Geography, 2022
(400 person, introductory, in person course)
"You could tell that Erin felt very deeply about her lecture content, and this has meant that the lectures have been more memorable. Upon asking people about the human lectures most people say they remember Erin's the most."

"Dr Torkelson in particular was one of my favourite lecturers from the year, always made the lectures fun but also thought–provoking, even when the material was abstract. The "walls, borders, flows" lecture was probably the single lecture I've attended which made me think the most, I was able to form an emotional connection to the material and see the more personal side of the issues discussed through the use of poetry and personal stories linked to the overarching concepts."

"Space and Place encouraged me to look at my own personal experience of the world in a way that I had never considered before. The use of more modern and relevant literature made the idea of reading engaging and made what we were learning feel more relevant to everyday life."
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
​Global Environmental Politics, 2020
(40 person, upper division, online course)
"The best thing about the course was relevancy during the pandemic and Black Lives Matter. It focused on current topics and breaking down how they have come to be established. This was eye opening to say the least. I would definitely recommend this class to other students. Erin was fantastic and I hope to take more of her classes, very precise and articulated, challenged me beyond expression."

"Erin was very engaged with all of her students, but in a gentle way. I really appreciate her teaching style, her commitment, and her ability to make students feel heard. I am a DSP [Disability Student Program] Student and she was very helpful and timely with providing accommodations." 

"The class setup was great. Recorded lectures and readings were interesting and set the stage for very engaging class discussions. Professor Torkelson was also wonderful about letting the discussion go freely between class members and providing thought provoking questions when it died down." 
UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE
Geographies of Nature and Land, 2020
(10 person, graduate seminar, converted from in person to online)
“I would like my lecturer to know that she made the learning experience more bearable. She was always in contact with the class. She never left us to our own devices. She loaded resources on Ikamva and would ask us to communicate with her if anything was wrong and if there was she would fix it immediately. She reached out to us on different platforms and mediums. She called us during office hours which was different an important for those of us without data [i.e. access to internet during the first months of Covid-19]. Speaking to your lecturer on the phone brought an element of closeness and that someone is there in terms of a support system. It makes a hard experience less lonely.” 

"The lecturer assisted students in exposing meanings in readings that may not have been apparent immediately, which pushed us to approach texts in different ways in order to uncover the meanings of texts ourselves. This benefited me in my other modules as well when looking at other texts, as I could see myself gradually improving with the way that I approach texts as the weeks went by. The lecturer was also very familiar with the use of online tools which helped when lockdown was implemented."

Sample Syllabi