Kevin D. Pham

Hello! I'm an Assistant Professor of Political Theory (with tenure) at the University of Amsterdam. 

My work explores the history of political thought, particularly how thinkers outside "the West" might challenge and enhance the field of political theory. I have special interests in Vietnam.

My book, The Architects of Dignity: Vietnamese Visions of Decolonization (Oxford University Press, 2024), is the first to introduce Vietnamese political thought to the field of political theory. My articles appear in journals such as Theory & Event, Philosophy and Global Affairs, European Journal of Political Theory, The Review of Politics, Polity, New Political Science, The European Legacy, and Montaigne Studies. 

I co-host a podcast with Yen Vu called Nam Phong Dialogues, where we talk about Vietnamese history, politics and social change, as well as Vietnamese American experiences.

I was born and raised in San Jose, California. After high school, I went to the University of California, Irvine where I studied biology and art before majoring in political science. It was during my travels with a group of students and professors to the Middle East in 2009 that I became fascinated with ideologies and history and therefore decided to pursue a career as a professor of political theory. After graduating in 2010, I lived in Vietnam, teaching English as a means to learn about the country my parents left as refugees. In 2011, through a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, I did a master's in conflict resolution at the University of Amsterdam. I went to UC Riverside for my Ph.D. (2020) in political science. Through a fellowship, I spent a year in Paris doing archival research for my book project on Vietnamese political thought. From 2020 to 2023, I was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Gettysburg College.   

As a teacher, I aim to cultivate listening, perspective-taking, and global civic engagement skills. I've developed this teaching philosophy through more than a decade of facilitating experiential education trips for hundreds of undergraduates to regions affected by conflict (Middle East, Northern Ireland, and Vietnam) through the organization mentioned above.

You can reach me at k.d.pham@uva.nl