David J Kahane, PhD (Cambridge), MA (McGill), BA (Concordia)

Area of Study / Keywords

Systems change climate change public participation anarchism prefigurative politics

About

David Kahane is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta in Canada. His research and teaching focus on climate change, climate emotions, systems change, systemic design, public participation, power, and how these fit together in theory and practice. He is a national 3M teaching fellow, a permaculture gardener, and father to young Solomon.

Research

David Kahane's research deals with theories and practices of democratic dialogue and deliberation, with particular focus on understanding the impact (or lack of impact) of innovative citizen participation processes given the complex systems in which they intervene. He also writes about connections between self, emotion, and systems change in connection with climate change. His publications include two edited volumes, Deliberative Democracy in Theory and Practice and Dispute Resolution in Aboriginal Contexts: Land Claims, Treaties, and Self-Government Agreements; and chapters and articles like “Climate change, social change, and systems change: Lessons from Alberta Climate Dialogue" and "Linking climate change, systems change, and care in the university classroom."

From 2010-2016 he was Principal Investigator and Project Director of Alberta Climate Dialogue (ABCD), a $1 million SSHRC-funded community-university research partnership that convened citizens in Alberta to deliberate on climate change policy, and learned from careful evaluation of these processes and their outcomes. 

Teaching

David regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on climate change, participatory systems change, marxism, anarchism, political theory, and history of political theory. He weaves participatory and deliberative methods into teaching/learning contexts, and has experimented with how meditation and contemplation can be used in the university classroom. He has won two national teaching awards (the 3M Teaching Fellowship and the Alan Blizzard Award for Collaborative Projects that Improve Student Learning) as well as the Rutherford Award for Undergraduate Teaching, the Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision, the Teaching Unit Award, and the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Teaching Award. His teaching publications include “Mindfulness and Presence in Teaching and Learning” and “Learning about Obligation, Compassion, and Global Justice: the Place of Contemplative Pedagogy.”

POL S 212 - Introduction to Contemporary Political Theory

Explores how texts in contemporary western political theory help to deepen and diversify our understanding of current political themes like war, climate change, sex, work, or democratic reform. Not to be taken by students with credit in POL S 210. Prerequisite: POL S 101 or consent of Department.

POL S 305 - Contemporary Political Theory

Focuses on struggles over citizenship, the self, and social justice through the work of theorists like Arendt, Beauvoir, Freud, Fanon, Foucault, Rawls, and Tully. Prerequisite: POL S 210 or 211 or 212 or consent of Department.

POL S 410 - Topics in Contemporary Political Theory

A critical examination of contemporary trends in political philosophy. A variable content course, which may be repeated if topics vary. Prerequisite: One of POL S 211, 212 (or 210) or Department consent.

POL S 514 - Contemporary Political Theory

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