My approach to teaching is constructed around my lived experience as a learner within various settings. i draw on my early years in the British system in the Caribbean, the American educational system during my undergraduate years and the Swiss system in graduate school. These experiences inform my understanding of teaching as a primarily facilitative endeavor; one in which faculty engenders critical thinking, and encourages a connection with the material so as to master the content, all while promoting civic awareness. i believe that teaching can extend beyond the confines of the classroom and involves mentoring. i enjoy working with undergraduates and below are some of the projects that i’ve worked on with students.
Thesis Reader
Fall/Spring 2024/5. Leila Tilin.From Spiritual Victims to Political Victimizers. Victimization and Sacred Obligation. (Pitzer College)
2025. Ramya Herman. How We Remain: Examining How Black Women Use Remembrance to Facilitate Growth, Healing, and Community. (Pitzer College)
2025. Cameron MacDonald. Revolutionary Play: Using Storytelling Games to Practice Handling Real Shit. (Pitzer College)
2024. Emily Kim. Chinatowns and Community Resilience: A Comparative Analysis of North American Chinatowns’ Responses to COVID-19. (Pitzer College)
2023. Quentin Jenkins. “If it ain’t one thing, it’s another:” Black LGBTQ students and their experiences with discipline and punishment in schools. (Pitzer College)
2023. John West. Moving in the Underground: The Politics of Black Joy in Roller-Skating and Funk Music in Chicago. (Pomona College)
Research Mentorship
Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. Emily Kim. Chinatowns: From Survival to Resilience. (Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship). Fellowship Advisor. (Pitzer College)
Fall 2019, Spring & Fall, 2020. Quentin Jenkins. From Diversity to Inclusion: A critical race analysis of institutional inclusivity. Research Mentorship. (Pitzer College)
Fall 2020. Jaize Holt. Genders within the intersectional paradox. Research Mentorship. (UC, Riverside)
Undergraduate Research Panels
California Sociological Association (2020) – In this session, undergraduate students who conducted first-rate research on a range of topics including race, indigeneity, class, sex and gender demonstrate the need for an intersectional understanding of these issues, so as to unveil the underlying structures at work in our society. But, more importantly how to disrupt and challenge those very structures to create a more just world. Find out more, here.
California Sociological Association (2020) – In this session, undergraduate students who conducted first-rate research on a range of topics including race, indigeneity, class, sex and gender demonstrate the need for an intersectional understanding of these issues, so as to unveil the underlying structures at work in our society. But, more importantly how to disrupt and challenge those very structures to create a more just world. Find out more, here.
California Sociological Association (2021) – In this session, undergraduate students present their research that engages the topic of structural inequality through race, indigeneity, class, sex and gender lenses. Research focused on identifying the roots of inequality, social movements that challenge the existing power configurations, and community engagement and organizing that seek to uplift marginalized populations. Find out more, here.
California Sociological Association (2021) – In this session, undergraduate students present their research that engages the topic of structural inequality through race, indigeneity, class, sex and gender lenses. Research focused on identifying the roots of inequality, social movements that challenge the existing power configurations, and community engagement and organizing that seek to uplift marginalized populations. Find out more, here.
Summer Research Projects
Black People Thriving: Creating and Organizing Resilient Communities builds on my Social Responsibility Praxis course, Black People in the Inland Empire (ORST180).Ruth Solomon and Noura Coulibaly both ORST180 (Ruth in 2024 and Noura in 2025) students have had the opportunity to observe and embody Black space and place making in the Inland Southern Communities. The 2025 Student- Faculty Research Assistantship Program gave Ruth and Noura the opportunity to expand on their work in the class on how Black folks build community (such as Noura’s project on Black women who create spaces that enable Black life to flourish in the IE), or make place for themselves (like Ruth’s extended project on the Alkebulan/African Diaspora Garden at Lopez Urban Farm). They also had the opportunity to realize concepts like Black aliveness and Black interiority, through research experience and scholarly mentorship. During the summer, both Noura and Ruth transcribed interviews (using Otter) that I have conducted over the past couple of years, and gained experience with the qualitative research management platform, Ligre. They gained invaluable research experience which they can apply to their theses if they choose to write one or their overall academic work.
Exploring the Sociopolitical Dynamics of Covid19 Pandemic Coverage in the United States – Narratives and reporting have the power to change public opinion, promote specific public policy, and re-frame public discourse on a subject. In this summer-long project, students explored the sociopolitical dynamics of COVID-19 pandemic coverage in the United States. We focused on mainstream media coverage of the pandemic, exploring the ways in which narrative shifts control the public’s image of the pandemic and serve to re-entrench structures of inequality. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, the goal was to determine, if and when a narrative shift occurs between February 1, 2020 to present, and the causes of these narrative shifts. Students, Dan Tan & Kahan Shah, learned the basics of qualitative research methods, how to develop a dataset within the Quirkos environment, while also deepening their knowledge on structures of inequality and how those are reproduced in society. Find a copy of the project presentation here.
Money and Power: A Reexamination of Theoretical Conceptions of Pornography in the Age of Subscription-Based Social Media Platforms – Engaging theoretical conceptions of pornography as well as exploring the history on the topic, von Behren sought to understand how the existence of OnlyFans disrupted and exposed flaws in the way we understand work, and sex work in particular, especially during the Covid19 pandemic, as well as the form and function of pornography in the US. Find a copy of Zach von Behren’s paper presentation here.
marilyn grell-brisk 