Any piece of writing is its own animal.

When I sit down to write, I write for everyone, knowing that not everyone will read or appreciate it.

Writing is recursive, as I keep coming back to it. It’s all in the p(re(writing)).

My work is infused with research, both internal and external, as well as the bones of my ancestors, poetical and blood.

I write from my corner, looking outward.

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Pedagogical Statement Excerpt

I enact a redefined and holistic pedagogy based in Eco-pedagogical theory. This relatively recently defined pedagogical system stems from process-based, collaborative, and feminist theories of teaching that engage praxes disruptive of traditional, normative, and patriarchal modes of meaning-making. Through student-centered collaborative learning and inquiry, recursive writing with deep questioning, and striving for equity and inclusion, my pedagogy encourages active, interdisciplinary analyses and critiques of canon, normativity, environment, and other factors of our “eco” (meaning “house”)in and beyond the classroom.

I strive to include the “whole person” and to assist students in discovering knowledge on their own terms. I encourage all students to express themselves and to participate in the global and local communities through interdisciplinary learning represented in diverse and inclusive texts and activities. I encourage students to participate in the academy and in the world around them by structuring assignments that interface with the public and the community.

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Diversity Statement Excerpt

I grew up in Henderson, Kentucky, a very small town with a very Southern mindset. I was exposed to racism, ableism, xenophobia, religious discrimination, and homophobia from an early age. Most of the people I knew were Catholic, white, and straight, and the small number of critically-minded, curious, and queer role models around me led to my own constant identity crisis that is, only today, beginning to resolve itself. The combination of my neurodivergence and my immediate environment left me feeling unheard and alone. My immediate family’s thinking divided itself from the “liberal left,” and so some of these questions of identity were, at best, untouchable. The Henderson I knew was small and claustrophobic. I wanted to escape, I wanted out, and when I found “out,” I hoped to feel different. I didn’t know what different might feel like, but I hoped it would make me enough.

Like others who grew up in these circumstances or similar, I am fighting the always-war against oppression and the always-war against white privilege. In some sense, my youth convinced me to go out and leave the place I came from in order to build community elsewhere; in other ways, I wanted desperately to convert from within and to inspire others in communities like mine to build a better country at the microcosmic level. My work to this day means to keep these hopes alive. Writing creates opportunities for change and imagination in the broadest sense. Writing of any kind can precipitate new meaning and make new options possible, and in this belief, I work to teach and engage people in all their complications.

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Syllabus Sample Excerpt

Introduction to Film, University of Louisville, 2022

Course Description:
This course will introduce you to the global history of film, film terms, film analysis, film theory, and film techniques. We will examine the elements of film form and will investigate how these elements come together to create film aesthetics and the production of meaning. Students will develop an understanding of film’s international foundation, interconnectedness, and how the cultures of non-U.S. societies have influenced filmmaking and their audiences. We will pay close attention to the concept of genre and the evolution of genre within social contexts using narrative and experimental films.

This course is similar, in many ways, to a literary analysis course. You will learn how to talk about and how to analyze film in an intellectual way. This is not a film survey course; the goal is to provide you with a solid understanding of the basics of film art and aesthetics, not to cover every genre, time period, or important film. The films selected for this course were specifically chosen by the department and by your instructor to facilitate the understanding of film as an art form.

Course Objectives:
1. See and analyze more films!
2. Understand the technical and historical context of films to understand their intent,meaning, and impact on filmmaking and culture.
3. Break down the aesthetic tools of film production by learning film terms, theories,and concepts.
4. Begin to write and talk about films critically.
5. Nurture a welcoming environment to discuss and learn more about film.
6. Discuss difficult topics concerning film and culture to approach understanding.
7. Connect films and readings to your personal interests.

Partial Course Outline (subject to change by instructor): 

For more on any of the above extracts, contact me at robertericshoemaker@gmail.com