kursiloi, or courses I have taught, which have shaped my thinking

  • A close-up photograph of multiple types of lichen grow on a tree, encrusting two branches. The colors of the lichen,stacked on top of each other range from light green and blue to dark brown speckles. One lichen grows out from one branch to the other

    Sugu (kin, genus): Living in More-than-Human Futures

    This course investigates the many worlds that make up our shared planet Earth and the notion and practices of more-than-human kinship. We will think critically about what it means to be kin — as both descendants and as ancestors. We are already living in the futures of our ancestors. What does this ask of us, the denizers of an already-here future?

    Photo: Sara Maaria Saastamoinen

  •  A black ringed seal sticks their big brown eyes, nose with large round nostrils, and water droplet-covered whiskers and eyebrows above the blue waves of Lake Saimaa in Karjala (Finland)

    Worlds: Radical, Abundant More-than-Human Futures

    Engage in the practices of dreaming, designing, and evaluating possible futures to co-create ones that better serve your communities. We foreground futures making and kinship collectives that pursue radical, abundant presents and futures and engage more-than-human communities across multiple temporalities in the projects of futures.

    Photo: Heikki Kurkela via Suomen luonnonsuojeluliitto

  • Protestors walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset carrying a large flag of the United States of America with the names of victims of police violence written on its red and white stripes. Prominently written across is George Floyd's name.

    Bodies: Making American Politics

    This course considers how particular bodies constitute, construct, and complicate American politics. We will ask what mechanics undergird American politics. Who and what are sacrificed to create visions of America? Guest speakers include voting and queer rights activists, cyber security experts, and climate change mitigation specialists.

    Photo: Todd Heisler for The New York Times

  • Golden yellow lichen and light green-gray lichen grown on a piece of wood.

    Collective: Futures in the Making

    Dreaming and creating futures is always collective. Who do we collaborate with to make futures? Who, what, when, and where do we carry into future(s) in our collective imaginations? How can we create conditions of possibility for abundant, collective futures?

    Photo: Efraimstochter from Pixabay

  • Brightly colored green, blue, yellow, orange, and white ghost-net stitched together to create a panel of coral by artist Marion Gaemers with the Erub Arts Centre in the Torres Strait.

    Water: Politics of Power and Protest

    We examine pasts, presents, and futures of water and what that means for our communities and ecologies. We navigate Indigenous relationships to water and water protection, infrastructures of water management, water-related natural disasters and catastrophes, water scarcity narratives, rights to/of water, and water as sustenance for community building.

    Photo: Marion Gaemers, “Coral Panel 2”