OMI SALAS-SANTACRUZ

My teaching centers on theory as method. Students learn to read for conceptual moves, develop analytic vocabularies, and design research approaches that can hold complexity without collapsing it into familiar binaries. In seminar settings, I use dialogic learning and structured reflection to help students connect theory-building to inquiry design and to the politics of evidence. Across my courses, students practice epistemic shifting by learning to work across archives, concepts, and interpretive frames rather than simply “looking for” predetermined categories (Salas-SantaCruz, 2025). They also engage methodological experimentation through visual and narrative analytic work, such as mapping relations or building storyboards and timelines, that makes argument structure and evidentiary claims visible. Finally, students approach curriculum design as a form of critique, treating syllabus-building and assignment design as sites where knowledge systems are selected, contested, and reconfigured.