Luca Badetti, PhD | Teaching + Talks

TEACHING and TALKS

In my teaching I like to use an inter-disciplinary approach to discover and analyze human experience: issues of self and identity, impairment and disability, oppression and freedom, community dynamics and inclusion.

I encourage students to develop critical analysis and nurture holistic insight.

Read about the course I created at DePaul University in this faculty profile.

Read recognition in UIC Disability and Human Development 2018 Report

Read an interview about my adjunct assistant professorship at Loyola University Chicago.

Courses Created/Taught

Upcoming: THEOLOGY OF DISABILITY (Spring 2019, Catherine of Siena College. University of Roehampton in London)

This online course explores disability from a theological perspective, merging it with philosophical theory and political discourse. It focuses on disability as a source of revelation of the human and the divine. First, drawing from Disability Studies, the course brings into question what disability is, expanding and challenging common understandings of disability, connecting them to their social contexts. Secondly, the course introduces students to how disability has been presented in theological discourses past and present. Lastly, the course will encourage students to reflect on their own theology of disability, integrated in their cultural and political milieus.

DISABILITY STUDIES: AN INTRODUCTION (Autumn 2017, DePaul University)

This course explores disability from an interdisciplinary perspective. It is divided in five sections: Impairment and Disability; Disability Histories; Community and Inclusion; Disability and the Life Course; Disability and Culture. Themes explored include first-person accounts, the variety of disabilities and of disability models, disability advocacy and policy, oppression and freedom, identity, inclusion, and self-determination.

Courses Taught

FOUNDATIONS OF PASTORAL CARE (Fall 2018, Loyola University Chicago)

This course explores the layers of pastoral care and the qualities that come into play in such a ministry of presence and accompaniment. Pastoral care journeys alongside people in the ups and downs of their lives. The history, the theological and psychological underpinnings, and the purpose of pastoral care is analyzed in this course, with particular attention towards the students' lived experiences and those of marginalized populations.

RESEARCH METHODS (Fall 2018, Loyola University Chicago)

This course seeks to familiarize students with research methods used in counseling and psychology. Qualitative and quantitative research paradigms and methods will be introduced, alongside broader research questions: what is research for? What are the ethical implications of research? How to make research inclusive and emancipatory?

HUMAN RIGHTS: POLICIES AND OUTCOMES (Fall 2018, Loyola University Chicago)

This course introduces the field of human rights. Students learn the history of human rights and the main issues characterizing the conceptualization of human rights in today’s world and politics. Human rights policies and strategies are discussed on an international scale, as well as the key historical moments in the development of human rights law. The course also looks at contemporary issues and topics--such as torture and detention, immigration, neoliberalism, living standard, and occupation.

SEMINAR ON MULTICULTURALISM IN THE US (Autumn 2016/2018, Winter 2018, DePaul University)

This course explored different facets of multiculturalism, in a spirit of discovery, understanding and critical thinking. The course explored the very notion of culture, its presence in society and in our individual lives. It then focus in more depth on three specific cultural realities: national identity, gender and disability.

FOUNDATIONS OF DISABILITY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (Fall 2015, University of Illinois at Chicago)

This course, which I co-taught, surveyed the foundational concepts and issues in disability studies and human development. This course helped students develop a framework for understanding disability from a multi-disciplinary perspective.