Introducing Assistant Professor of Psychology, Africana Studies, and Social Transformation Gaurav Jashnani

Before joining the faculty at Hampshire, Gaurav Jashnani taught at the University of Michigan and Teachers College, Columbia University. He has also worked with the Global Action Project, which supports youth media and activism, and the Challenging Male Supremacy Project, a grassroots collective of male-identified people challenging male supremacist practices. “My areas of teaching interest are institutional racism, social movements and social change, counseling and mental health, gender violence, Black feminism, and abolition,” he says.
 
Jashnani holds a master’s degree in counseling from Columbia University and a doctorate in psychology from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, with certificates in Africana studies and American studies. Prior to working at Hampshire, he was a postdoctoral fellow at CUNY’s Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean.
 
Have you been in any other professions that impacted how you teach and learn?
 
Training and working as a therapist has taught me to center on listening, empathy, and possibility in the classroom. Working as a social justice facilitator in numerous settings has impacted my teaching by strengthening my awareness of power dynamics and helping me to understand the importance of validating and engaging with complex life experiences.
 
What are you passionate about when it comes to this work?
 
I’m passionate about supporting the learning and success of minoritized students and all those who want to work for the liberation of oppressed communities.
 
Where has your work appeared?
 
Here are some examples of my written work on policing research: “Opinion: How Defunding Can Solve Police Violence” and “Violations of Justice.” I’ve also appeared on CUNY TV to talk about these issues. Additional academic research publications can be found here, and my most recent publication, “Built on my B(l)ack”: racial capitalism and anti-Blackness in predominantly white institutions of higher education, is available from Taylor & Francis.
 
What are you looking forward to at Hampshire?
 
Working with thoughtful, engaged, and motivated thinkers and changemakers, in a setting where we all have the room to pursue our interests and passions.
 
How do you hope to engage with our new curricular model?
 
I’m very excited to support the growth and development of Hampshire’s Learning Collaboratives, not least because the question of how we disrupt and dismantle white supremacy is central to my teaching, research, and community work.
 
Anything else you'd like to us to know about you?
I’m a former short-order cook and one-time champion of the Ann Arbor Punk Week Annual Shopping Cart Race.