Leading a 'Peace Walk' at the Emmeline Pankhurst Statue - Manchester, UK
Conflict Transformation Central to my research is the interdisciplinary theme of conflict transformation, influential in my work has been the ‘local turn’ and the teachings of John Paul Lederach, in particular his conceptual work on ‘the moral imagination’. The Covid-19 pandemic has continually exposed failures of power and how our interconnections are more apparent and more fragile than ever before. Central to my teaching is the generation of discussion, framing and naming inequality, and thinking about how each person in the classroom can become more reflective, informed, and engaged in social change towards something that is better for everyone. At both Manchester and Waterloo, I have been in roles that were tasked with teaching broad-themed introductory courses that would fit under the umbrella of conflict transformation or peace and conflict study. In this position I engaged with a wide range of materials in a way that reinforces students’ interest in degree programs and pathways. It is my belief that critical thinking, reflection, analysis, listening, and precise speech are all essential for intellectual growth in any subject, however in a normative subject like Peace and Conflict Studies discussions go deeper if students learn to support their answers with concrete evidence. In this way, assignments are more analytical if students ask how information they find is framed and then practice the skills they learn to develop habits of mind that help them deal with difficult problems beyond the classroom. Civil Resistance My growing research agenda in the area of resistance, particularly through engagement with graffiti and street art in conflict settings, is something I have been able to bring into the classroom and be recognized for with a Curriculum Fellowship at the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict in Washington, DC. My teaching demonstrates the tension in all education systems between power and resistance – with academic institutions socializing students into pre-existing social structures, which may be oppressive, or serving as a venue where students learn to question and resist oppressive structures. I seek to teach courses that enable education to be connected to activism and social movements, so they inform each other, deepening linkages between lived knowledge and academic knowledge. Influenced strongly by the pragmatic works of Gene Sharp, Stellan Vinthagen, Jamila Raqib, Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth I teach with a focus on successful social mobilization events so that we might learn lessons on strategy and tactics which could benefit our own movements and calls for change. Methodology A key area of teaching interest which has come out of my research is in the broad area of qualitative methodology. At University of Waterloo, I taught a course to graduate students entitled ‘The Practice of Peace’, which engaged practical elements of qualitative research, as well as investigated how such methods are utilized in professional practice, particularly around monitoring and evaluation. In teaching this course I drew focus to the challenges of research that come when student researchers enter into situations that are marked by misunderstanding and miscommunication, embedded within larger contexts with particular histories, identities, and values. In my experience many institutions view the deeper teaching of qualitative inquiry to students as something performed behind the closed door, often between supervisor and supervisee; I see it as a subject that deserves an open place in the lecture hall or the seminar room.
Experiential Learning in Gulu, Uganda
Experiential Learning A large part of my own academic and professional history has been realized through experiential learning and fieldwork, and student participation that spans beyond lecture halls is something about which I am passionate. In my current work in the Peace and Conflict Studies program at the University of Waterloo, I supervise undergraduate and master’s students throughout field-based learning experiences and guide the ways in which they further engage academic material, as well as their own reflections, when they return to an academic setting. In 2017-2019, while working at the University of Manchester, I led four master’s-level courses on substantial experiential learning trips. The first of these trips was to Bosnia Herzegovina. This course engaged with methodologies and field research; through the act of interviewing and meeting civil society actors in this conflict-affected society, we examined issues of positionality and epistemology, and considered the role of power in research and publication. The other three trips were to northern Uganda; these courses focused on the operationalizing of development initiatives and aid delivery – including response to refugees and challenges of (post)conflict reconstruction as experienced by organizations and populations impacted by prolonged conflict and displacement. These courses presented students with tactile and dynamic learning opportunities that connected real-world practices to academic understandings. . Adaptation Evolving teaching methods and courses to match the modern university classroom requires adaptation, a practice that means many things. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, versatility – through training and being open to learning various technologies that enhance students’ learning experience – has become an important aspect of my growth as a teacher. Experience teaching online and utilizing software such as LEARN, Blackboard, Turnitin, and Moodle, amongst a host of other purpose-designed apps, has given me an understanding of what is possible for higher education beyond the traditional classroom; while within the classroom this use of evolving technologies provides increasing opportunities to connect in creative, meaningful and integrative ways. However, adaptation as a teacher spans beyond the technical and into the reflexive. As a teacher, the examination and constant re-examination of oneself includes understanding power and positionality embedded in the role of teacher, researcher and the long history of this profession – and then responding to this imbalance. The ways in which this reflexivity becomes enacted is through continued evolution and decolonization of readings and reading lists, seeking to lift voices, and acknowledging that as a white male teacher I may not be representation for all students, but I can continue to work openly to ensure that there is space in my classroom for every student to move from the margins to the centre of their own education.