TEACHING

My primary teaching objective is to help students become independent and critical learners, able to locate and evaluate reliable evidence and construct coherent arguments of their own. A second, related objective, shaped by my teaching experience in both West Africa and the United States, is to help students recognize and question generalizations and misrepresentations about the societies and subjects they study. Through teaching Mauritanian undergraduates about international relations and Western cultures, as well as teaching African politics and comparative country cases in the United States, I came to realize that students sometimes need to unlearn these preexisting assumptions in order to learn.

At the University of Florida, I have served as Instructor of Record for African Politics and as a Teaching Assistant and Grader for courses in Comparative Politics and International Relations. Before beginning my doctoral studies, I taught at the university level in Mauritania for more than six years, including as adjunct faculty at the University of Nouakchott and as a full-time lecturer at the Higher Institute of English. There, I taught undergraduate students as well as professional audiences, including military personnel and business professionals, and designed courses, syllabi, and instructional materials.

My approach is also informed by my Cambridge CELTA certification, which emphasized student-centered instruction and active participation. Across different courses and student populations, I seek to create an interactive classroom in which students are encouraged to participate and engage seriously with evidence. 

SELECTED TEACHING EXPERIENCE

University of Florida — Department of Political Science

Instructor of Record, African Politics, Summer 2025

Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Comparative Politics, Spring 2024

Grader, Theories of International Relations, Spring 2026

Grader, Comparative Elections, Fall 2023

Grader, Democratization in Global Perspective, Fall 2023

Higher Institute of English (Public College), Nouakchott, Mauritania

Instructor of Record, Introduction to International Relations, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021

Full-time Lecturer, bachelor’s program in International Communication Studies; courses taught entirely in English

Instructor of English for Specific Purposes for military personnel, business professionals, and senior government employees

Guest Lectures

Guest lecturer, “Language Politics and Policy in Mauritania.” Course: Advanced Arabic and Its Culture, Duke University. September 2025 (online).

Invited lecturer, “Dialogue with Religious Actors: Lessons from Mauritania’s Efforts to Combat Violent Extremism.” Summer School on Security in the Sahel, International University of Rabat, Morocco. July 2024.

Guest lecturer, “Politics, Coups, and Insecurity in the Sahel.” The African Experience: Introduction to African Studies, University of Florida. August 2023.