My teaching experience spans the Universities of Amsterdam (Department of Media Studies) and Lancaster (Department of Sociology), as well as Maastricht University. It covers media and cultural studies (including critical cultural theory and studies of the cultural economy), visual and literary studies, urban studies, and social movement studies.
At Maastricht University, I am currently responsible for the courses Cultural Industries of Tomorrow and Time to Act. I also teach in the core courses of the MA specializations Art and Heritage, Contemporary Literature and Art, and Modern Political Cultures, as well as in the BA modules Authority, Expertise and Environmental Change, Social Studies of Finance, and Doing Cultural Studies.
Alongside my teaching, I have led a number of initiatives for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in higher education. Grounded in critical theory, these initiatives have drawn on interdisciplinary research to critically interrogate taken-for-granted assumptions about academic practice, including ideas of ‘laziness’, ‘academic freedom’, and ‘leadership’.
Current Courses
Cultural Industries of Tomorrow: Towards Postgrowth Prosperity and Sustainability
This course draws on emerging postgrowth research to explore solutions to challenges facing cultural industries, such as labor precarity among cultural workers or environmental pollution in the fashion industry (among many other challenges). Drawing on my expertise in postgrowth research and related fields (e.g. cultural commons and cooperatives), I guide students to relevant literature and case studies. Students use these resources to develop concept maps exploring how interdisciplinary theories, professional practices, and policy reforms can contribute to what we might call the Cultural Industries of Tomorrow. Rather than prioritizing profit and economic growth, these industries are oriented towards collective wellbeing, social justice, and environmental sustainability.
Time to Act: Cultural Interventions and Artivism
This course focuses on social movement cultures and art activism. Students analyze the narrative and aesthetic features of activism (e.g. parody in activist pranks) alongside the cultural politics of social movements (e.g. movement-internal self-organization and “emotion work”). Drawing on qualitative research and arts-based facilitation methods, students develop a group project in collaboration with societal stakeholders to address a current social and/or environmental challenge. Throughout the process, students explore cultural approaches to qualitative research, collaboration and activism, and engage in critical self-reflection. The aim is to learn how to use arts-based and creative methods effectively and responsibly in NGO work, grassroots organizing, participatory art spaces, and related fields.
Professional Development Initiatives
Critical Perspectives on Leadership (2025-26)
Based at Maastricht University, this working group critically explored the leaderist turn in higher education. As academic educators, researchers, and citizens, we are frequently called upon to act as leaders. From job advertisements to promotion portfolios, leadership is framed as a valued professional skill. Yet what, precisely, is leadership, and who gets to define what counts as good leadership in higher education? What role does the so-called “leadership industry” play in shaping leadership ideals and circulating them within organizations, including universities? And—perhaps most importantly—how do the tools, vocabularies, and assumptions of dominant leadership frameworks shape everyday academic practices and power relations—in teaching and learning, research cultures, and university management? To explore these and related questions, we read and discussed critical academic perspectives on leadership. We will share our insights in an upcoming discussion paper and booklet.
Understanding Academic Freedom (2024-25)
The goal of this working group was to deepen our understanding of academic freedom as a contested concept. While some understand it primarily as the right to pursue academic work free from external interference, others emphasize the right of academics and students to engage in socially and politically engaged academic practice. Still others have stressed that “academic freedom is not an academic version of the right to free speech” (Schinkel 2024). Academic freedom encompasses a range of rights and responsibilities within the academic realm. To better understand its history, meanings, and possible interpretations, we read and discussed Henry Reichman’s Understanding Academic Freedom, alongside shorter academic and news media articles addressing current issues related to academic freedom, including cuts to higher education and the student encampments for Palestine. Our goal was to explore how we might navigate the tensions surrounding academic freedom in our own practices as educators, researchers, and potentially public intellectuals.
Laziness Does Not Exist: A Speculative Thinking Workshop (2024, co-organized with Aagje Swinnen)
This workshop used speculative thinking and fiction writing to critically examine a concept that subtly shapes our everyday teaching practices: Laziness. Drawing on social psychologist Devon Price’s book Laziness Does Not Exist, we invited participants to question common understandings of laziness and related concepts, such as procrastination. Building on these discussions, participants engaged in a speculative exercise, imagining what university education might look like if we assumed that laziness does not exist. Drawing on social-psychological insights, the workshop explored how behaviors often perceived as laziness may instead reflect personal circumstances that are not immediately visible, including financial pressures and neurodivergence. The broader goal was to critically reflect on and improve our teaching practices, with a view to fostering greater inclusivity, embracing (neuro)diversity, and advancing social justice in higher education. The workshop also provided an opportunity to discuss existing challenges in academic teaching and learning, including problems of work pressure and burnout.
