My educational development has been significantly influenced by Paulo Freire's work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which, doubting the existence of an objective, neutral educational system, finds its students lead toward either domestication or liberation. All too often, the educational system serves to normalize existing power structures contributing to maintaining a "culture of silence." Our advance consumer-society rapidly dehumanizes individuals into Objects who concur with the rationality of the present system. The role of the educator, as I see it, is to facilitate the student's consummation of their ontological vocation in becoming a Subject. My task as a professor is to cultivate the student's ability to find their own voice by creating an environment in where individual and collective consciousness-raising can occur.

In order to construct a response to injustice and oppression, I have taught classes combining liberationist perspectives with postmodern analysis. Upon the tension created by these diverse narratives, I have constructed an approach to religious studies from the periphery providing a unique outlook to the normative discourse, a view I believe enhances traditional curricula. Because individuals enter the educational system with a lifetime of experiences and knowledge, courses can be designed to bring their suppositions into conversation with postmodern and liberationist paradigms. Students partake in forming a learning environment by leading segments of the discourse and participating in projects to encourage the interweaving of scholastic rigor with their personal backgrounds.

As both my curriculum vitae and corporate résumé indicate, I posses practical and academic knowledge in public policy and economics, specializing in how the socio-political culture normalizes the oppression of the Other. My controversial approach to marginalized theologies (specifically Latino/a) moves beyond what Edward Said terms "the rhetoric of blame" by concentrating upon intra-ethnic structures of oppressions. A review of the articles I have published, the papers I have presented and the courses I have taught demonstrate and are consistent with my focus in analyzing race, class, and gender oppression.