Welcome to the newest edition of our Teacher-Scholar Spotlight, illuminating PhD students’ insights on teaching and learning! Each month we’ll share the experiences of PhD students who have engaged in Bok Center programming and what they’ve learned about and from teaching.
Eduarda Araujo, G6 in African and African American Studies and History
Summarize your research in 2 sentences.
My dissertation builds a political and intellectual history of African and Afro-Brazilian healers and diviners between the 1850s and the 1920s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. My research demonstrates that South-Atlantic spiritual practices had profound political meanings and drew from intellectual repertoires that can inform the task of writing a history of Black freedom in Latin America.
What have you learned from teaching?
A significant part of teaching involves listening attentively and generously to what students have to say. And I have the most fun teaching when my students are given the opportunity to exercise their creativity.
How did you get involved with the Bok Center?
I got involved with the Bok Center in 2020 as I was getting ready to teach at Harvard for the first time, during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone was trying to figure out how to effectively teach and engage students online, and after attending the Bok Center's Fall Teaching Conference I felt I had the necessary tools to go into that strange semester of teaching on Zoom. After a surprisingly successful first semester as a TF, I decided to continue taking advantage of the resources the Bok Center had to offer.
What is something you learned in a Bok Seminar that you’ll use in the future?
So many things! In the History department’s pedagogy seminar, I learned how to collect helpful feedback from students regarding their learning experience, how to offer feedback on writing, and how to establish a limit to the time I spend on TF responsibilities (shout out to Pedagogy Fellow Belle Cheves!). In Bok Center seminars, I learned a ton about building my syllabus to create a more equitable learning space, and getting students engaged in discussion. This semester I am a History Prize Instructor with my own course to teach, and all these lessons have proven helpful from the get-go.
What would you say to PhD students about why they should get involved with the Bok Center?
The things we learn in the seminars can help us enjoy teaching while enabling us to not be totally consumed by it, so we can still advance in our research projects. Besides, we always have something new to learn about teaching, no matter how long we’ve taught before, or how good we think we are at it. If these aren’t good reasons for a grad student to get involved with the Bok Center, I don't know what else would be.
What’s a fun fact about yourself?
I started practicing Muay Thai a few years ago and learned that friendly exchanges of punches and kicks can be a very relaxing hobby for folks doing a PhD.
Have you been working with the Bok Center this year? Do you want to be featured in the Teacher-Scholar spotlight? Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch!