“As a teacher, Birgit does much more than great work. What she does is nothing less than ‘a labour of love’.” – Student quote 2023
Education is about making connections between humans. Each group process is unique, but the common denominator is that we connect with each other. In an interdisciplinary and culturally diverse student group, it is even more important that each voice is heard. Therefore, the basis for each course and lecture is a safe learning environment in which we also dare to move out of our comfort zone. Hence, inspired by Liberating Structures, I carefully select and redesign interactive and transformative exercises – like creative destruction, crowd sourcing, 1-2-4-all, empathic interviews, and shift-and-share – and include creative elements such as storytelling, music, and videos. Moreover, when learning about and from historically underrepresented perspectives, we – students and teachers – need to be reflective about our positionality and privileges. Therefore, I invite students to reflect critically on my own as well as their cultural and educational background.
Course coordinator – African philosophy CPT39806
This course provides students basic knowledge on African thinking, reasoning and underlying frameworks based on the works of influential African philosophers like Henry Odera Oruka, Mogobe Ramose, Workineh Kelbessa, and Kwame Gyekye. Moreover, students learn to critically reflect on their own cultural and scientific background. Intercultural dialogues are particularly suitable to critically reflect on one’s own thinking and learn from other cultures. During this course students therefore acquire basic methodological skills to engage in intercultural dialogues – based on the work of late professor Heinz Kimmerle on intercultural philosophy.
In November/December 2018, the course was provided for the first time, and much appreciated by the students. Over the years, the number of students has grown as well as the teacher team. In 2022 and 2023, Pius Mosima was co-teacher, and in several colleagues have provided guest lectures over the past years including Mogobe Ramose, Michael Eze, and Beatrice Okyere-Manu.
Course coordinator – Social Justice, Technology and Development CPT30806
Technological changes are often at the core of development projects and societal controversies. his course deals with theories and concrete situations in which social justice issues are intertwined with technological change. The course offers frameworks to analyse inequality, poverty, power in social transformations, and representations of injustice. The framework for this social analysis of technological change is interdisciplinary as it uses selected notions from philosophy, science and technology studies, development studies, sociology and anthropology.
Co-teacher / guest lecturer
- Responsibilities for Equality and Sustainability GEO59306
- Social Transformations towards Sustainable Food Systems RSO-34806
- Perspectives and Themes in International Development Studies SDC-36306
- Transformative Research for Global Social-Environmental Challenges, PhD course (WUR-WIMEK, UU, TU Enschede )
Selection of previous courses and contributions
- Advanced Communication Science CPT33806 (2021 & 2022), guest lecture “Intercultural dialogues and African philosophy” (with Pius Mosima)
- Introduction to Technology Agroecology and Development CPT21304 (2022), course coordinator with Harro Maat, introduction into social sciences for Master Rural Development and Innovation (MDR)
- Capitalist Realism SDC50904 (2020), guest lecture “Epistemic injustice in agricultural development”
- Philosophical Skills CPT55503 (2022 & 2023), guest lecture “Looking and thinking beyond a Western lens: intercultural dialogues with African philosophy”
- Advanced Master International Development (AMID, Radboud University) guest lecture (2022) “African philosophy & epistemic injustice in international development” (with Mogobe Ramose)
- Advanced Communication Science (2021), course coordinator with Annemarie van Paassen
- Animal Science in Society (2011): obligatory course for Bsc students animal science at WUR
- Analysis and Management of Sustainable Organic Production Chains (2009 & 2010): elective course for Msc students Organic Agriculture at WUR
