social scientific discourse, anthropology of writing and literacies, institutional literacies, ethnographic and archival methods in writing studies, public and digital humanities pedagogy
Catherine Koehler is an anthropologist interested in how ideas about literacy, language, and education construct social difference and are mobilized by institutions, past and present. Her research and teaching are grounded in inclusive writing pedagogy and focus on helping students develop anthropological sensibilities to understand writing as a socially situated, historically contingent practice rather than a natural or neutral skill.
Recent publications highlight collaborative teaching projects that introduce first-year students to digital humanities, archival research, and public scholarship, including work with the American Prison Writing Archive and Wikimedia Foundation (“Activist Bibliography as Abolitionist Pedagogy in the American Prison Writing Archive”; “Engaging Neglected Histories: First-Year Students, Archives, and Wikipedia”).
Her administrative activity and service teaching reflect a sustained commitment to access and equity in higher education, alongside a critical interest in how institutional policies and practices shape notions of merit and belonging. Currently, Koehler is Executive Director of UC Merced’s Degree Completion Program, supporting some college/no degree students to return and graduate, and is program chair for the Liberal Studies, B.A.
She has taught courses in composition, writing in the social sciences, and literacy studies at UC Merced since 2012, first as a Unit 18 Lecturer in the Merritt Writing Program. She is a first-generation college student and holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Cornell University, where she also trained at the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, and a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California, Davis.
