Claudia Eppert, PhD., M.Ed., M.A, B.Ed., B.A.

Area of Study / Keywords

Curriculum Studies English Language Arts Philosophy of Education Literary/Cultural Studies in Education Witness/Trauma/Remembrance Studies Contemplative/Mindfulness/Holistic Education Critical Pedagogy

About

Claudia Eppert received her doctorate from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, her MA (English literature), M.Ed., B.Ed. (English, Social Studies, ESL 1), and TESL Certificate from the University of Toronto, and her BA (English literature) from the University of New Brunswick. Before moving to the University of Alberta, Dr. Eppert was assistant/associate professor at Louisiana State University where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in curriculum theory and English language arts education.

Dr. Eppert's research focuses on the ethics of witnessing social and ecological suffering/trauma through literary, aesthetic, and mindful/contemplative/holistic engagements, along with exploration of the possibilities of psycho-social transformation to a more just, compassionate, and regenerative world. She is co-editor of Between Hope and Despair: Pedagogy and the Remembrance of Historical Trauma (with Roger I. Simon & Sharon Rosenberg, Rowman and Littlefield) and co-editor of Cross-Cultural Studies in Curriculum: Eastern Thought, Educational Insights (with Hongyu Wang, Lawrence Erlbaum, Taylor & Francis). Both books received an AESA Critics Choice Book Award, and Cross-Cultural Studies in Education also received AERA Outstanding Book Recognition (Curriculum Studies Division). Eppert has served as co-editor (with Daniel Vokey) of the journal, Philosophical Inquiry in Education (formerly known as Paideusis), for which they edited two special issues on Contemplative Practice, Education, and Socio-political Transformation. 

In 2019-2020, Dr. Eppert was visiting professor at the Faculty of Education at York University (September to December, 2019) and visiting professor at the Dept. of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University /McGill Institute for Human Development and Well-being (January to mid-March, 2020). She currently serves as member of the Curriculum Studies in Canada Advisory Board and the Alberta Journal of Educational Research Advisory Board.

Graduate students interested in curriculum studies, English language arts education, literary & cultural studies in education, philosophy of education, mindfulness/holistic/contemplative education, witness/trauma/remembrance studies, critical pedagogy & transformative learning, or alternate areas related to Professor Eppert's research are welcome to contact her at eppert@ualberta.ca.

Please note: Dr. Eppert is currently not taking on any new students.

Research

Publications:

Edited Books

Eppert, C. & Wang, H., (Eds). (2008). Cross-cultural studies in curriculum: Eastern thought, educational insights. (Curriculum Theory Series) Mahweh, N.J LEA Routledge, Taylor and Francis.

Simon, R.I., Rosenberg, S., & Eppert, C., (Eds.). (2000). Between hope and despair: Pedagogy and the remembrance of historical trauma. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.

Special Themed Edited Journal Issues

Eppert, C. & Bach, J. (Eds.). (2021). Questions of gratitude: Storying transformative and curricular relationships with women's experiences and lives [Special symposium]. Curriculum Inquiry, 51 (3), pp. 287-380.

Vokey, D. & Eppert, C. (Eds.). (2013). Contemplative practice, education, & socio-political transformation, part two [Special issue]. Philosophical Inquiry in Education (formerly known as Paideusis: Journal of the Canadian Philosophy of Education Society), 21 (2).

Eppert, C. & Vokey, D. (Eds.). (2012). Contemplative practice, education, & socio-political transformation, part one [Special issue]. Philosophical Inquiry in Education (formerly known as Paideusis: Journal of the Canadian Philosophy of Education Society), 20 (1).

Book Chapters, Articles, & Published Conference Proceedings (Selected)

Eppert, C. (2022). Cura, after all. In D. Conrad & S. Wiebe (Eds.) (2022). Educational fabulations: Teaching and learning for a world yet to come. (pp. 251-264). Palgrave MacMillan.

Eppert, C. (2021). Contemplating educations of ecological well-becoming, with gratitude to (mother) earth, wildlife, and women. In C. Eppert & J. Bach (Guest Eds.) Questions of gratitude: Storying transformative and curricular relationships with women's experiences and lives [Special symposium]. Curriculum Inquiry. 51 (3), 307-331

Eppert, C. & Bach, J. (2021). Introduction. In C. Eppert & J. Bach (Guest Eds.). Questions of gratitude: Storying transformative and curricular relationships with women's experiences and lives [Special symposium]. Curriculum Inquiry. 51 (3), 287-292.

Eppert, C. (2020). Forest walks in the Anthropocene: Meditations on joy, grief, and a restorative educational politics. In M. Bussey & C. Mozzini (Ed.) A phenomenology of grace: The body, embodiment and transformative futures (pp. 65-84). Palgrave MacMillan.

Eppert, C. (2018). On lack and joy: Contextualizing educators’ suffering and well-being. Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies 12, (2), 1-23. doi: 10.14288/jaaacs.v12i2.190619

Eppert, C. (2018). Rumination on pedagogical rhythms. In E. Hasebe-Ludt & C. Leggo (Eds.). Canadian curriculum studies: A métissage of inspiration/imagination/interconnection (p. 34). Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars’ Press.

Eppert, C. Vokey, D., Nguyen, T.T.A. & Bai, H. (2015, May). Intercultural philosophy and the nondual wisdom of basic goodness: Implications for contemplative and transformative education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 49 (2), 274-293. doi: 10.1111/1467-9752.12141. Reprinted in O. Ergas & S. Todd (Eds.), Philosophy East/West; Exploring intersections between educational and contemplative practices (pp. 129-151). West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons. (Reprint of journal article)

Bai, H., Eppert, C., Scott, C., Tait, S., Nguyen, T. (2014). Towards intercultural philosophy of education. Studies in Philosophy and Education: An International Journal, 34 (6), 635-650. doi: 10.1007//s11217-014-9444-1

Eppert, C. (2013). Awakening education: Toward a rich tapestry of mindful and contemplative engagement for social/environmental transformation. In J. Lin, E. Brantmeier, & R. Oxford (Eds.), Re-envisioning higher education: Embodied pathways to wisdom and social transformation (pp. 337-351). Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Publishing (Transforming Education for the Future Series).  

Eppert, C. (2010). The ‘war within’: Ethical and spiritual responsibilities to children in an age of terror and consumerism. International Journal of Children's Spirituality, 15 (3), 219-232. doi: 10.1080/1364436X.2010.524637

Eppert, C. (2010). Heartmind literacy: Compassionate imagining & the four Brahmavihāras. Paideusis: Journal of the Canadian Philosophy of Education Society, 19 (1), 17-28.

Eppert, C. (2009). Remembering our (re)source: Eastern meditations on witnessing the integrity of water. In M. McKenzie, H. Bai, P. Hart, & B. Jickling (Eds.), Fields of green: Re-storying culture, environment, and education (pp. 191-210). Hampton Press.

Eppert, C. (2008). Emmanuel Levinas, literary engagement, literature education. In D. Egéa-Kuehne (Ed.), Levinas and education: At the intersection of faith and reason (pp. 67-84). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis.

Eppert, C. (2008). Fear, (educational) fictions of character, and Buddhist insights for a witnessing curriculum. In C. Eppert & H. Wang (Eds.), Cross-cultural studies in curriculum: Eastern thought, educational insights (1st ed. pp. 55-108). Mahweh, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, Taylor and Francis.

Eppert, C. & Wang, H. (2008). Openings into a curriculum of the way. In C. Eppert & H. Wang (Eds.), Cross-cultural studies in curriculum: Eastern thought, educational insights (1st ed. pp. xvii-xxii). Mahweh, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, Taylor & Francis.

Eppert, C., Ethridge, K, & Bach, J. (2007). Bridging the gap: Three perspectives on teaching young adult literature for a just and sustainable world. Talking Points (Whole Language Umbrella, National Council of Teachers of English), 19 (1), 10-20. 

Simon, R.I. & Eppert, C. (2005). Remembering obligation: Witnessing testimonies of historical trauma. In R.I. Simon (Ed.), The Touch of the Past: Remembrance, Learning, and Ethics (pp. 50-64). New York, N.Y.: Palgrave MacMillan. (Reprint of 1997 journal article).

Eppert, C. (2004). Leslie Silko's Ceremony: Rhetorics of ethical reading and composition. JAC: A Quarterly Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Rhetoric, Literacy, Culture, and Politics, 24 (3), 727-754.

Eppert, C. (2004). (Un)learning home: Paule Marshall's Praisesong for the Widow, Emmanuel Levinas and an ethics of reading for alterity. In B. Ledent (Ed.), Bridges across chasms: Toward a transcultural future in Caribbean literature (pp. 169-183). Liège, Belgium: L3.

Eppert, C. (2004). Altering habits of attention and inattention in education: Simone Weil and Emmanuel Levinas. In H. A. Alexander (Ed.), Spirituality and ethics in education: Philosophical, theological, and radical perspectives (pp. 42-54). Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.

Eppert, C. (2003). Histories re-imagined, forgotten, and forgiven: Student responses to Toni Morrison's Beloved. Changing English: Studies in Reading and Culture, 10 (2), 185-194. 

Eppert, C. (2002). Mourning identities: Commemorative and curricular debates concerning the fall of the world trade centre. In Bogdan, D., Eppert, C. Yang, C. Morton, C. Eppert, Symposium: Aesthetic Education in Times of Terror: Negotiating an Ethics and Aesthetics of Answerability. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 10 (2), (Fall): 128-132. 

Eppert, C. (2002). Entertaining history: (Un)heroic identifications, apt pupils, and an ethical imagination. New German Critique, 86, 71-101. 

Eppert, C. (2002). Reading relations, loss, and responsive/responsible learning. In M. Morris & J. Weaver (Eds.), Difficult memories: Talk in a post-Holocaust era (pp. 45-67). New York: Peter Lang.

Simon, R., Eppert, C., Clamen, M., & Beres, L. (2001). Witness-as-study: The difficult inheritance of testimony. The Review of Education/Pedagogy/Cultural Studies 22(4), 285-322. 

Eppert, C. (2001). Women students composing desire in scholarly writing: A lover’s discourse. Taboo: A Journal of Culture and Education 5(1) 52-72. 

Eppert, C. (2000). Re-learning questions: Responding to the address of past and present others. In R. Simon, S. Rosenberg, & C. Eppert (Eds.), Between hope and despair: Pedagogy and the remembrance of historical trauma (pp. 213-230). Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.

Simon, R. I., Rosenberg, S., Eppert, C. (2000). Introduction: The pedagogical encounter of historical remembrance. In R. Simon, S. Rosenberg, & C. Eppert (Eds.), Between hope and despair: Pedagogy and the remembrance of historical trauma (pp. 1-8). Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.

Simon, R.I., & Eppert, C. (1997). Remembering obligation: Pedagogy and the witnessing of testimony of historical trauma. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue canadienne de l’éducation, 22 (2) 175-191.

Bogdan, D. & Eppert, C. (1996). Literacy. In J.J. Chambliss (Ed.), Philosophy of education: An encyclopedia (pp. 360-62). New York: Garland Press.  

Teaching

Graduate and Undergraduate Courses Taught

EDSE 501: Life-writing Research

EDSE 503/505: Curriculum Foundations

EDSE 501: Witnessing, Imagination, Transformation

EDSE 501: Curriculum of the Heart: Ethics, Emotions, Well-Being

EDSE 401/501: Mindfulness, Wisdom, and Contemplative Pedagogies for a More Compassionate, Just, and Sustainable World

EDSE 501: Witnessing Social Suffering/Trauma Through Literature and the Arts

EDSE 501: Literacy, Literature Education, and Social Change

EDSE 610: Doctoral Research Seminar

EDSE 427/451: Advanced Professional Term in English Language Arts Teaching

Keynotes, Plenaries, & Invited Presentations (Selected)

Eppert, C. (2021, March 30, invited). Ecological Witnessing, Imagination, and Transformation in Canadian and ELA Curricula. Curriculum Studies in Canada Seminar Series (CSIC) Youtube Channel. [On-line]. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia, Canada. (see youtube link below)

Eppert, C. (2020, July, invited keynote). Questions of witnessing, transformation, & ecological well-becoming. Paper presented at T. Kaefer (Director/Chair) Joint PhD. Educational Studies Summer Session Keynote Address Series. Brock University, Lakehead University, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Eppert, C. (2020, February, invited panelist). Panelist in C. Mitchell & L. Riddell (Co-Chairs), Symposium conducted on Well-being: The future of education, the future of humanity. Trafalgar School/Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 

 Eppert, C. (2018, May, invited presenter). Education in crisis: Witnessing, Bildung, and a responsive transformative imagination. Paper presented at A. Speltz and B. Schmenk (Co-Chairs) Imagination in German educational thought workshop. Waterloo Centre for German Studies, University of Waterloo, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

Eppert, C. (2018, May). Education in crisis: Witnessing, Bildung, and a responsive transformative imagination. Paper presented at A. Speltz and B. Schmenk (Co-Chairs) Imagination in German educational thought workshop. Waterloo Centre for German Studies, University of Waterloo, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

Eppert, C. (2017, May). Well-being, curriculum, & transformative envisioning in the Anthropocene. Paper presented at T. Falkenberg (Chair), Symposium on Student mental well-being and well-becoming. Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba. Manitoba, Canada *see link below. 

Conrad, D., Eppert, C., Salverson, J. Soutar, A. (2017, May). Plenary session on Complexities of environmental witnessing through theatre: Engaging Soutar’s Watershed. Canadian Association for Theatre Research (CATR) at Congress. Toronto, Canada. 

Mitchell, C., Eppert, C. Johnston, I., Low, B. McKerracher, A., Ng-A-Fook, N, & Starr, L. (2017). With a Flourish! Our Teaching/Our Research/Our Well-Being. [On-line]. Panel presentation at C. Mitchell (Chair). What does it mean to flourish in the academy? Provoking Curriculum Conference 2017. Institute for Human Development and Well-Being. McGill University. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. *See link below.

Eppert, C. (2015, June). Discussant paper presented at Lisa Farley and Aparna Mishra Tarc (Co-Chairs), CACS Presidential panel: A new climate for Canadian curriculum studies: Environment, human, animal. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Eppert, C. (2014, October). Intercultural wisdom: Questions of loss, ethics, & hope. Paper presented in B. Pinar, W. Doll, & D. Trueit (Chairs), 2014-2015 Seminar Series on International perspectives in curriculum and pedagogy. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. 

Eppert, C. (2014, May). Mindfulness, society, and educational transformation. Paper presented at K. Franklin (Chair), Approaches to mindfulness and well-being in education. Symposium conducted at the Association of Canadian Deans of Education (ACDE) at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE). Brock University, St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Canada.

Eppert, C. (2013, May). Compassionate youth engagement. Paper presented at plenary session at Critical Canadian Youth Studies Conference, University of Calgary, Canada. 

Eppert, C. (2013, March). Awakening education: Mindfulness and contemplative pedagogies for a just and compassionate World. Paper presented at the U. of A. Faculty of Education Research Forum. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.

Eppert, C. (2012, May). Perennial wisdom, transcultural dialogue, and social transformation. Keynote paper presented at George Richardson (Chair), International Symposium on Transcultural Dialogues II: Contemporary Educational Research in Canada and China. Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.