#RESIST. Geography Building, Berkeley, CA. Photo: SocImage
Teaching experience
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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. |
Photo: Leopold Podlashuc
TEACHING AWARDSIn 2015, I won the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor teaching award at the University of California, Berkeley.
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My Teaching
What Students Say
UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE
African Urbanisms, 2024 Small Honours module Complete set of Evaluations |
"I enjoy being pushed to think more critically. I also learned to read to understand which also allowed me to pinpoint the different authors' main arguments. This made it easy to compare different articles/authors." |
UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE
Space, Place, Mobilities, 2024 200 person, second year module Complete set of Evaluations |
"All I can say is wow, never knew anything about capitalism just always heard the term but never understood it. Dr Erin is a patient and enthusiastic lecturer which made learning to be exciting." |
DURHAM UNIVERSITY
Introduction to Human Geography, 2022 400 person, introductory module Complete set of Evaluations |
"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." |
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Global Environmental Politics, 2020 40 person, upper division, online course Complete set of Evaluations |
"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." |
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.” |
