Rate My Professor Kevin Pham

Kevin Pham is an Assistant Professor of Political Theory (with tenure) in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the programme group Challenges to Democratic Representation. He earned a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Irvine in 2010, an M.A. in conflict resolution from the University of Amsterdam in 2011 supported by a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Riverside in 2020. Prior to his current position, he served as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Gettysburg College from 2020 to 2023. His research examines the history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century political thought, focusing on how ideas of democracy, freedom, and revolution travel across cultures and are adapted by thinkers engaged in political struggles outside the West, particularly Vietnamese political thought and concepts of dignity and shame in anticolonial contexts. Pham has developed teaching approaches emphasizing listening, perspective-taking, and global civic engagement through over a decade of leading experiential education trips to conflict-affected regions including the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and Vietnam.

Pham's scholarship has significantly advanced the understanding of Vietnamese anticolonialism within political theory. His book, The Architects of Dignity: Vietnamese Visions of Decolonization (Oxford University Press, 2024), received the 2025 Ralph J. Bunche Award from the American Political Science Association for the best work exploring ethnic and cultural pluralism. Key publications include 'A Postcolonial Theory of Free Speech' in Political Theory (2026), 'Anticolonial Audiences and Revolutionary Theater in the Vietnamese Maquis' in Philosophy and Global Affairs (2024), 'Strategic Occidentalism: America in Vietnamese Anticolonial Thought' in Theory & Event (2024), 'Violence and Vietnamese Anticolonialism' in New Political Science (2022), and 'Nguyễn An Ninh’s Anti-Colonial Thought: A New Account of National Shame' in Polity (2020). Currently, he explores free speech conceptualizations in illiberal contexts. Pham co-hosts podcasts Nam Phong Dialogues on Vietnamese history, politics, and social change, and Viet History Makers on key Vietnamese historical figures. He has contributed to media discussions on Vietnamese history and participated in conferences such as Remembering the Second Indochina War.