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Cathryn van Kessel

Assistant Professor, University of Alberta
Cathryn van Kessel (B.A., UBC; M.A., UBC; B.Ed., UBC; PhD, UAlberta) is currently an Assistant Professor in Secondary Social Studies Education at the University of Alberta. In the decade before completing her PhD she taught junior and senior high social studies and Latin.

Cathryn’s doctoral research began with a specific concern: teaching about constant recurrences of genocide, and how educators might engage pedagogically with atrocities often (and understandably) labelled as evil. Studying evil is more than just qualification or socialization; it is about subjectification—developing subjects who think and act independently from authority, but at the same time interdependently with others. Social studies education is an opportunity to arrange curriculum and pedagogy for subjectification with a driving question, how might we live together?

Her current research focuses on how we might teach more successfully toward better relations between and among divergent social groups, particularly through the work of Ernest Becker and terror management theory (TMT) as a framework for engaging with conflicting perspectives in classrooms and beyond.

Cathryn's research seeks to encourage teachers, curriculum designers, researchers, and the general public to engage with conceptualizations of evil in order to subvert socio-political invocations of evil that shut down thinking/thoughtfulness. How might conceptualizing evil philosophically empower us to change the status quo? Or, how might the ever-widening imaginary of domesticated or empathetic evil present in popular media add complexity to historical discussions? Cathryn is looking for ways to open up possibilities for how we might reconceptualize the past, live in the present, and ponder the future.

Educators must challenge the politics of evil

Nov 04, 2018 14:26 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

After Robert Bowers murdered 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, people are looking for explanations. Who would do such a thing? And why? The answers are almost as terrifying as the violence itself. The most terrifying...

Economy

RBA Hikes Interest Rate to 4.60% as Inflation Risks Rise

The Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates by 25 basis points on Tuesday, taking borrowing costs to their highest level in nearly 15 years as policymakers respond to persistent inflation and rising energy prices....

Asian Stocks Fall as Bond Yields and Oil Prices Surge

Asian stock markets fell broadly on Tuesday as surging U.S. Treasury yields, elevated oil prices and renewed pressure on technology shares dampened investor sentiment. Markets also awaited the Reserve Bank of Australias...

Asian Currencies Mixed as Yen Weakens, RBA Hike Looms

Asian currencies traded mixed on Tuesday, with the Japanese yen weakening toward recent lows as investors weighed intervention risks and the Bank of Japans policy outlook. The U.S. dollar remained near a two-month high,...

Gold Holds Near Seven-Week Low as Fed Rate Hike Bets Rise

Gold prices stabilized near a seven-week low on Tuesday after plunging 4% in the previous session, as elevated oil prices, rising U.S. Treasury yields and expectations for further Federal Reserve rate hikes continued to...

U.S. Stock Futures Steady as AI, Rate Concerns Weigh

U.S. stock futures were little changed Monday evening after Wall Street fell under pressure from elevated Treasury yields, concerns about slowing artificial intelligence development and persistent geopolitical tensions...

Politics

White House Blames Democrats as CLARITY Act Stalls

The White House and Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis have blamed Senate Democrats for the CLARITY Acts failure to advance, escalating partisan tensions over landmark U.S. cryptocurrency legislation. The Senate voted 49-50...

US Troops Set to Complete Iraq Withdrawal as Iran Influence Grows

US forces are expected to withdraw from their remaining bases in Iraq by Wednesday, completing a departure agreed in 2024 and raising concerns over Irans expanding influence and the potential resurgence of Islamic State....

Malaysia Begins Deportation of 1,500 Myanmar Nationals

Malaysia began deporting about 1,500 Myanmar nationals on Tuesday under a repatriation programme that has drawn objections from the United Nations and human rights organisations over safety concerns in conflict-hit...

Trump Denies Offering Iran Sanctions Relief for Nuclear Concessions

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday denied reports that his administration had offered Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds in exchange for concessions on Tehrans nuclear program. This is untrue. I offered...

Rubio Warns Cuba to Change Course as US Pressure Mounts

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington hopes Cuba will pursue a different path, warning that Cuban officials should not expect to simply wait out President Donald Trumps administration without making changes....

Science

Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Could Delay Launch Operations Until 2028

Blue Origin is facing a significant setback after a dramatic explosion involving its New Glenn rocket severely damaged a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, repairs to the...

Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Launch Pad Test, Delaying Space Ambitions

Blue Origin suffered a major setback after its uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a launch pad test in Florida on Thursday, raising new challenges for Jeff Bezos space company as it competes with Elon Musks SpaceX...

SpaceX Delays Starship V3 Launch Ahead of Potential Record IPO

SpaceX on Thursday postponed the highly anticipated launch of its 12th Starship rocket test from Texas after technical issues interrupted the final countdown. The company now plans to attempt the Starship V3 launch again...

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

Technology

Anthropic Targets $2 Trillion Valuation in Planned IPO

Anthropic is preparing for a highly anticipated initial public offering that could value the artificial intelligence company at more than $2 trillion, putting investor enthusiasm for the booming AI sector and its massive...

Samsung Invests $1 Billion in KKR’s Helix AI Infrastructure

Samsung Electronics and five affiliates are investing a combined $1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure, a new artificial intelligence infrastructure company backed by investment firm KKR, as Samsung expands deeper...

CSL Partners With AWS to Bring AI Into Drug Research

CSL has entered into a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to integrate artificial intelligence and cloud computing across its research and clinical development operations, aiming to accelerate drug discovery and...

OpenAI Scraps GPT-6.1 Astra Launch Over Safety Concerns

OpenAI has canceled the planned release of GPT-6.1 Astra after internal testing raised concerns about the artificial intelligence models safety, alignment and ability to stay within authorized boundaries. The...

Pi Network Price Holds $0.087 as Protocol 28 Mainnet Upgrade Nears

Pi Network price traded around $0.0886 on September 28 as investors looked ahead to the Protocol 28 Mainnet upgrade scheduled for October 16. PI remained below the key $0.10 level amid broader weakness across the...