Cary Campbell

Dr. Cary Campbell is an educational philosopher, curriculum theorist, and music educator whose interdisciplinary work bridges theoretical inquiry with practical applications for contemporary teaching and learning. His research operates at the intersections of biosemiotic, post-digital, and posthumanist theories, exploring how education can meaningfully respond to the challenges of mass digitalization, the climate crisis, and the necessity of cultivating place-connectedness.

Dr. Campbell’s scholarship focuses heavily on developing existentially and ecologically aware approaches to pedagogy in an era marked by accelerating economic growth and the global polycrisis. He is the author of the book, Education in a Time of Social and Environmental Unravelling: Transdisciplinary Responses to the Polycrisis (Routledge, 2026), which articulates a terrestrial vision for critical eco-pedagogy and challenges conventional climate change education by examining human-ecological relationships within planetary limits. Building on these themes of ecology and perception, his upcoming book project, Tuning In: A New Theory of Sound, Music, and Instruments (Cambridge University Press, early 2027, co-written with Thomas Hoeller), extends his scholarship into sound studies and acoustic ecology, investigating the evolutionary emergence of human musicking and sonic communication rituals.

An active scholar and performing musician, Dr. Campbell has spent over a decade working in community arts and conservatory settings. At SFU, he teaches courses spanning practitioner inquiry, environmental and land-based education, curriculum theory, and creative musicianship and music education. Methodologically, he is deeply engaged in collaborative qualitative research, frequently employing duoethnography and arts-informed heuristics to explore pedagogical practices. Beyond his teaching and research, he serves as an editor for the Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education, co-director of the arts organization New Curriculum Group, and is a co-editor of the philosophy webzine Philosophasters.org.