A PhD student at University of Cincinnati recently invited me to speak at an exciting program they have in the College of Arts and Sciences there. From what I understand, it's a course that's focused on Public Careers, which are contrasted with academic careers.
All my courses incorporate significant utilization of technology, and I have pedagogical and practical training in teaching online. I am eager to expand my digital engagement with students and apply what I know about teaching with technology on a larger scale.
I am currently conducting SoTL research based on data I collected in my Culture & Society courses during AY 2018-2019. This IRB-approved study focuses on the mechanisms through which students come to challenge their ethnocentrism and internalize cultural relativism.
I am trained and experienced as a Food Studies academic, but did you know I have had a number of other jobs in local food systems?
I am the Faculty Advisor for the Anthropological Society at IUSB (ASOC), an academic student organization, a role I took on during AY 2018-2019. The students have organized bi-monthly meetings in which they discuss anthropological news and research, play games, and more. Other recent activities include community education with school-aged
I am an active participant in communities focused on teaching and learning at any campus of which I am a part, as well as across broader networks. Below are some of the long-term programs to which I have contributed, in addition to single-session programs. Indiana University South Bend’s University
As scholars, we might undertake some aspects of research on our own, but meaningful knowledge creation and the application of research through teaching and public engagement are collaborative efforts and benefit from input from many different types of people.
This course examines gendered patterns in global inequality with special attention to recognizing women’s voices, agency, and differences, in the context of larger structures of power.
Community engagement has been a key part of my education, and in my work as an educator, I continue the commitment to rooting my teaching in the local community, making sure it is relevant and creates an impact.
This course is an introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology that reflects the value of a four-field approach to American Anthropology, while emphasizing the confluence of the Social Sciences and the Humanities in the Socio-Cultural tradition.
In Fall 2019, I taught a course about Gender and Development, in which we welcomed a guest speaker from a locally based non-profit focused on development, Malawi Matters.
Since I have taught courses that are central to holistic education across the university, I have participated in feedback, assessment, and planning meetings and pilot testing related to General Education requirements at IUSB
Collaboration
Through collaboration with a colleague and international students at IUSB, students in my course on gender and development were able to contribute to a new blog telling diverse stories from the campus.
Collaboration
In November 2019, I planned and facilitated a lunch-and-learn workshop for International Education Week at the University Center for Excellence in Teaching at IUSB
Tamil Nadu
In this article, I draw on Foucauldian concepts of knowledge, discourse, and power to explore comparisons Tamils in Madurai provided for valuing country chicken over broiler chicken, and the extent to which these comparisons level critiques against globalization.
Teaching
In Fall 2019, I completed a one-day certification course on the Quality Matters Rubric for creating and assessing the accessibility, effectiveness, and pedagogical design of online courses. Quality Matters is a nationally recognized certification program for online education.
Collaboration
Collaborative learning and mutual mentorship are critically important to me.
Teaching
I am committed to participating in efforts to make knowledge collaborative and accessible, and one of the easiest ways to do so is through use of open educational resources (OER), which are free of cost, open license, and usually widely accessible through digital formats.
Outreach
I am often asked to speak on topics related to my research for wide general audiences. In 2019, one of my former students interviewed me with his co-host for their podcast, Searching for the Center.
Outreach
As part of the Indiana University South Bend College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (CLAS) Campus & Community initiative, I worked with faculty colleagues and student ambassadors in the Anthropology program in AY 2018-2019.
Environment
In the course, we discussed the principal theories and methods environmental anthropology utilizes and the issues on which it focuses, by looking at case studies from South Asia and the Midwestern US.
Teaching
During my undergraduate and graduate studies, I tutored other students as a Writing Tutor. I also led structured writing groups through Indiana University’s Campus Writing Program in AY 2017-2018.
Teaching
I completed the requirements for the Associate and Practitioner levels of Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program (GTAP) and received certificates marking that work.
Presentations
> Assessing Anthropology Students’ Adoption of Cultural Relativism Reference Chera, Madeline. 2019. “Judging Non-Judgement: Assessing Anthropology Students’ Adoption of Cultural Relativism,” 20th Annual Midwest Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Indiana University South Bend, South Bend, IN, April 2019.