From Classroom to Conversation

BY RAGA CHILAKAMARRI ’23

When we say Jumbos truly dig into their interdisciplinary passions, we mean it. And Emile Naccasha ’23, a biology major with a minor in religion, offers a prime example. On the one hand, Emile’s love for immunology has motivated his pursuit of medicine, while his curiosity towards Early Christianity fueled his journey through a department that critically examines religion from political, economic, cultural, and historical lenses. I sat down with Emile and Associate Professor of Religion Jennifer Eyl to chat about their independent study, experience teaching through the Tufts Prison Initiative, and appreciation for Tufts’ culture of genuine academic interest.

How did you two meet?

Emile Naccasha: I took a class with Professor Eyl last fall called Jesus From the First to the 21st Century. I went to a Catholic high school where they didn’t just teach you about Catholic theology, they taught about the philosophy of many different religions. Taking that class with Professor Eyl reminded me of those high school courses that I really enjoyed: studying Christianity from a critical perspective, not only using the Bible but reading sources that have come since. The following semester, I was able to TA that course inside MCI Concord, which is a medium security prison, with the Tufts University Prison Initiative (TUPI).

What is your independent study on?

Jennifer Eyl: Emile approached me to do an independent study, and I agreed to do it but only on a topic that I am an expert in. I’m working on a book that explores the way that the apostle Paul uses the virtue of faithfulness or fidelity to try to create groups of people who are faithful to each other. Not just construct a sense of group ethos but how the virtues reinforce group boundaries. There’s a lot that I have to read, read through, and reread. Emile loved that topic, and I was like, ‘why don’t we just do the independent study on this and you can read what I’m reading?’ So he’s kind of coming along on the journey of research with me.

What were your first impressions of each other?

EN: My initial impression of Professor Eyl was first of all how interested she is in the subject. It’s very clear that she’s extremely passionate. And that was really exciting to me. But second of all, how driven she was to make sure that whatever you put into the course is something that you really took an interest in.

JE: (nods) you should never write a research paper on a topic that bores you.

EN: Hearing that, especially on syllabus day, was really impactful for me. It sets a precedent for how you use the rest of the semester.

JE: Yeah, Emile is very motivated. And I mean I would say that’s true of almost all of my students at Tufts. Emile’s motivated in a way that includes science but also the humanities and history. And that’s very refreshing. You don’t feel that you have to sacrifice one for another.

Do you have any memorable experiences working together?

EN: I would say working together for the TUPI. That was probably one of the most impactful things I’ve ever done in my entire life. I mean, the people we got to know doing that, the stories that we were able to read from our students and working together to try to create a really good experience for them. For the last class, the project was to conduct plays that reimagined a certain story of Jesus from any one of the Gospels however they wanted to. That was really cool because we got to see how different students interact with the same material. And it was really interesting to me to see how Professor Eyl can extract very diverse things out of diverse students.

JE: I came up with that play assignment because they couldn’t do a research paper. So I thought, what can I have them do on the inside of the prison to get them to really sink their teeth into this material, to translate some scene from a New Testament gospel into the modern era. And they were just mind blowingly creative, insightful, and hilarious. It was just extraordinary. I wanted to laugh…and also cry because these men are brilliant.

EN: People always assume that prisoners have all the free time in the world. But they really don’t. It’s even harder to have free time to do work than we have as students.

JE: I think one of the benefits for Tufts students [TA-ing] this class is that, from the perspective of a professor, I get to engage with my own students as fellow educators, fellow adult human beings who are invested in education. I had been Emile’s professor the semester before and now I got to engage with him as a person who is also committed to education and learning and critical thinking. And that line between professor and TA didn’t matter.

What drew you both to Tufts?

JE: When I came to Tufts as a professor, the Dean explained Tufts University to me as a small liberal arts college inside of a research university. And I think that’s true. It’s an R1 research institution, but there’s also a lot of space for relationships between professors and students. I know my students’ names because I don’t have 300 people in my class.

EN: And there is a really nice culture of students who study things like the sciences and the humanities. I have a number of friends who study biology and philosophy, physics and English. Also, I grew up in a very, very small town in California, where a lot of people say you have to leave it to experience the world. I found Tufts through my mom’s coworker’s daughter who went to Tufts and told me about it. She was telling me how motivated students are and how a lot of people study two different things. The fact that there was a culture at Tufts of people who wanted to do two different things was really appealing to me. On top of that, being in Boston, as someone who wants to become a physician one day, you’re surrounded by the greatest medical centers in the world. You have some of the best professors of biology at your fingertips.

JE: My students are interested. Yeah. I encounter a lot of students at Tufts who are really interested in stuff. They are interested in social justice. They are interested in politics. They are interested in poetry and in sports. They’re interested. They’ve got a lot of stuff going on.

EN: I feel like at Tufts someone is willing to say “oh yeah, I read this in my free time.” Like they learn things in their free time here. They have the ability to explore things outside of their classes which is really refreshing.