About me

I am an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami. My research engages questions in the areas of animal ethics, moral psychology, American pragmatism, and feminist philosophy. My articles have appeared or are forthcoming in Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment, Journal of Modern Literature, Arizona Quarterly, and Hypatia.

 

 

Research

My book project, Animal Values, is an interdisciplinary inquiry of the representational methods employed by artists to change attitudes and motivate the public to care about animals. Its main aim is to argue that the practice of reading, interpreting, and appreciating literature and other forms of art can sensitize us to the ethical imperative of alleviating animal suffering. To do this, I examine the role that art might play in disrupting our valuation practices, habituating us to a sense of justice, and supplying us with firsthand experiences of the value of animal life.

 

Teaching

A central focus of my work is how media affect the way that we think. With the rise of multi-media approaches, students are gaining some skills and losing others. I believe good teaching begins from an awareness that current media ecologies offer us endless possibilities for exploration and learning, but they can also narrow our horizon. The logarithmic logic of the internet poses challenges to a new generation of students who have grown up interacting with digital technologies, which is why I believe media literacy should be the central humanistic focus in the classroom. How do we avoid the trappings of google and the internet, technologies that currently serve the needs of coorporations by reducing our likes, opinions and personalities to “data” in order to better serve our so-called consumer-needs? How do we help students navigate digital media environments where it is difficult to identify authoritative sources so that they might become better researchers and well-informed citizens? I believe that a liberal arts education at its best arms students with the analytical tools that they need to arrive at carefully-weighted opinions.