Anthem Press has recently published Mexico-US, Serbia-EU Border Lives and Works. Learn more.
Classes and Workshops
Below are brief descriptions of a few selected examples of the classes and workshops I currently teach or have taught in the past.
When it comes to teaching focusing on international relations, human security, and forced displacement, I rely on feminist pedagogical approaches and encourage my students to learn how to identify and critically think about sources of power. I guide and encourage them to nurture a sense of community in the classroom and support each other while keeping intersectionality and considerations about how different parts of our identity shape our experiences and perceptions at the center of classroom work and discussions. I firmly believe in combining classroom learning with direct engagement and enjoy providing my students with opportunities to learn directly from people working on addressing some of the most pressing social and political issues of our times. For this reason, I especially enjoy designing classes and programs that allow them to engage with people from different sectors and backgrounds, including policymakers, researchers, artists, activists, and people directly impacted by the issues we engage with in the classroom.
— BOSTON UNIVERSITY —
KILACHAND HONORS COLLEGE
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Challenges
This course is part of the Kilachand Honors College two-semester sequence, “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Challenges," and is taught by an interdisciplinary team of instructors. It takes a two-pronged approach to studying forced displacement - one that seeks to balance breadth and depth, or the need to understand the global scope of forced displacement, and the other that addresses the particular features of specific contexts. Each week a lecture taught by a different member of the teaching team introduces a set of important general topics or concerns in refugee studies: the international law of forced migration, empire and modern statehood, racialization, gender, and other aspects of identity, the arts, the current available tools to improve health and their limitations, etc. The second class meeting of the week is reserved for a context specific discussion where the students discuss the general topic introduced in lecture as applied to the specific geographic context introduced to them by one of the instructors. My own section introduces students to the EU-Serbia borderlands and the specific issues that emerge in this space, helping them understand the dynamics that shape the experiences and challenges people on the move face as they try to reach the EU.
— CFD SUMMER PROGRAM —
Migration and Border Regimes and Interdisciplinary Summer School
on Forced Displacement
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Traditionally open to both undergraduate and graduate students, the program has evolved alongside deepening partnerships in Serbia and shifting regional dynamics. Beginning in 2026, it will be exclusively open to graduate students, reflecting a transition toward a rigorous, research-oriented format that emphasizes comparative analysis, interdisciplinary dialogue, and collaborative inquiry.
As part of the program, participants will travel to Serbia for two weeks in late May and early June, engaging in seminars, workshops, and field visits coordinated by the Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, in partnership with CFD. Graduate students from Serbia will also join the program, creating an environment of mutual learning and cross-regional exchange between scholars from the Balkans and beyond. All selected participants are required to attend five, two-hour-long, in-person pre-departure sessions before their trip to Serbia. These sessions will be scheduled for March and April 2026.
PROGRAM BACKGROUND & RATIONALE
Long before the so-called “long summer of migration” in 2015, both the United States and the European Union had been developing increasingly restrictive border regimes—systems designed to limit access to their territories and asylum procedures for people on the move. Today, those on the move are routinely pushed back across borders, detained in zones of legal limbo, or contained in third countries such as Libya.
This program examines how and why these strategies of deterrence and externalization have emerged, how they operate across different regions, and how they are experienced, resisted, and reimagined by communities, civil society organizations, and people on the move themselves.
— ON-GOING WORKSHOPS —
CENTER ON FORCED DISPLACEMENT
Research Workshop Series
IMISCOE
PhD Reflexivities in Migration Research Workshops
Graduate students and junior scholars often take on large research projects with few resources and under strict time constraints, which impacts the research design process and outcomes. While there are plenty of forums for sharing research results, there is a lack of spaces to discuss first steps, challenges faced along the way, and how to recalibrate from obstacles. This series of workshops and conversations gives participants a chance to “peek behind the curtain” — to demystify and collaborate around parts of the methodological process that can sometimes feel messy, intimidating or uncharted. It combines in-person and hybrid sessions and allows anyone interested in engaging more deeply in discussions around specific research methods and ethical dilemmas to join the workshop. Some sessions are also devoted to workshopping specific papers and projects where participants bring in their works-in-progress for discussion. Up to date schedule and opportunities for engagement can be found on the CFD website.
Organized by PhD members of the IMISCOE Standing Committee "Reflexivities in Migration Studies", these sessions are designed to be a collaborative platform. Here, early career researchers can present their work, exchange feedback, debate methodological and theoretical challenges, and expand their networks with peers interested in reflexive migration research. This is a supportive environment for young scholars eager to explore alternative research approaches, mindful of the power dynamics in knowledge production about migration and striving to de-nationalize and de-migranticize studies of mobility and diversity. IMISCOE warmly invites PhDs and early career researchers contributing to Reflexivities in Migration Studies to express their interest in presenting, discussing, or participating in other capacities in our online sessions. Learn more.
— PAST CLASSES TAUGHT —
Course Listings
SUMMER 2024
Interdisciplinary Summer School on Forced Displacement—
Main Theme: “Border Securitization and Internal Displacement”
Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University;
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade, Serbia
SPRING 2024
HC302 A1 Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Challenges II—
Interdisciplinary Course on Forced Displacement
Kilachand Honors College, Boston University
SUMMER 2023
Interdisciplinary Summer School on Forced Displacement—
Main Theme: “EU Border Externalization and Its Impacts”
Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University;
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade, Serbia
SPRING 2023
Forced Migration
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Intro to Research, Qualitative Methods, and Survey Tools
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
FALL 2022
HUB193: Border Regime and Border Externalization
BU HUB, Boston University
SPRING 2021
Research Practice in Qualitative Methods
Harvard University, Department of Government
FALL 2021
HUB194: Research Methods in Forced Displacement
BU HUB, Boston University
SUMMER 2020
Summer Intensive Course on Qualitative Research Methods
The Henry J. Leir Institute, Tufts University
