In the monsoon term of 2021, I had the pleasure of assisting my master’s thesis advisor, Prof. Harish Naraindas, in teaching the course Interviewing in Social Sciences at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS), Jawaharlal Nehru University. Owing to the pandemic, academic semesters had been delayed since winter 2020, and the course was offered during a compressed monsoon session designed to clear the backlog of the winter 2021 term. All classes were conducted online.
Despite these unusual circumstances, the course became one of the most rewarding teaching experiences of my academic life. Teaching in a fully remote environment required daily experimentation and innovation as we adapted in-person pedagogical practices to the digital medium. At the same time, the small cohort of ten students created an unexpected advantage: remote learning enabled closer, more attentive engagement with individual learning challenges, allowing us to cultivate a more intimate, responsive classroom environment.
I am happy to share the course syllabus over email meghna.mailme@gmail.com. I hope it conveys something of the intellectual curiosity, collaborative learning, and pedagogical joy that shaped this teaching experience.
My second teaching experience was in Spring 2026 during the third year of my PhD. I assisted in a graduate course on the philosophy of science.
I was responsible for facilitating small-group discussions for three of the nine groups and supporting doctoral students from across the social sciences in reflecting on the philosophical foundations of their research. My role involved guiding conversations about objectivity, interpretation, and evidence as they relate to students’ own projects. Together, we debated and brainstormed ways to collaborate with someone from an ontological position different from ours to address the most pressing concerns of our time, such as climate change and mental health. This work aligns closely with my broader anthropological interest in how knowledge is produced and made meaningful within professional communities.