Cathryn van Kessel, Ph.D.

Cathryn van Kessel is an associate professor of curriculum studies, and is a former secondary social studies and Latin teacher from Canada. Her research focuses on how different conceptualizations of evil function in the context of education within and beyond the classroom, with a keen interest in youth conceptualizations as well as a variety of understandings from philosophy, psychology, and social theory. She is particularly enthusiastic about interpretations of evil that implicate ordinary people to uplift pursuits of justice. Toward this end, she finds it helpful to put evil in conversation with concepts like radical love as well as in relation to existentialism, decolonial options, and posthuman theories.

Dr. van Kessel currently serves as an associate editor for Canadian Social Studies.

Education

Ph.D., Curriculum Studies & Social Studies
University of Alberta
2016 

B.Ed., Secondary Social Studies
University of British Columbia
2005

M.A., Ancient Culture, Religion, and Ethnicity
University of British Columbia
2004

B.A. (Honours), Classical Studies
University of British Columbia
2000

Academic Areas

• Curriculum Studies
• Curriculum Theory
• Philosophy in/of Education
• Social Studies Education
• Teacher Education
  

Research Areas

• Conceptualizations of evil
• Media Education
• Teaching Contested Issues
• Teaching about/amid death and existential anxiety

Selected Publications

Books

• Clark, C. H., & van Kessel, C. (Eds.) (2025). AI in social studies education: Tools for thoughtful practice with generative artificial intelligence. Teachers College Press.
• van Kessel, C., & Edmondson, K. (Eds.). (2024). Teaching villainification in social studies: Pedagogies to deepen understanding of social evils. Teachers College Press.
• van Kessel, C. (2019). An education in evil: Implications for curriculum, pedagogy, and beyond. Palgrave Macmillan.

Articles

Please see Google Scholar or ORCiD.