Dr. Swartz has published extensively in the areas of rhetorical theory, democracy, and social justice. With his background in both law and rhetoric, he seeks to engage critically the limitations of constitutional and other normative standards that reify social inequality.
Education and Degrees
J.D., Duke University, magna cum laude (2001)
Ph.D., Purdue University (1995)
M.A. University of California, Davis (1992)
B.A. Humboldt State University (1989)
Selected Publications
Omar Swartz, Anti-Dobbs, An Interdisciplinary Polemic (New York: Peter Lang, 2025).
Omar Swartz, “‘Straight But Not Narrow’: An Ally Confronts Homophobia Through Litost.” In Subhadeep Paul and Goutam Majhi, eds., Beyond the Heteronorm: Interrogating Critical Alterities in Global Art and Literature (pp. 75-88). Maryland: Lexington Books, 2024.
Omar Swartz, “Becoming an Ally in the College Classroom: One Front in the Battle Against Homophobia.” In Amber E. George and Russell W. Waltz, eds., Critical Pedagogical Strategies to Transcend Hegemonic Masculinity (pp. 193-208). New York: Peter Lang, 2021.
Rodrick Schubert and Omar Swartz, “Tradition and Transformation in Jane Addams’s New Federalism: Creating Community Sphere by Empowering Municipalities.” In JongHwa Lee and Seth Kahn, eds., Activism and Rhetoric: Theories and Contexts for Political Engagement 2nd ed. (pp. 173-189). New York: Routledge, 2020.
Omar Swartz and Candace Nunag Tardio, “Propter Defectum Sexus and the Stalled Gender Revolution.” In Brittany C. Slatton, and Carla D Brailey, eds., Women and Inequality in the 21st Century (pp. 24-39). New York: Routledge, 2019.
Omar Swartz, “Writing (and Criticism) as an Act of Staying Human: Lessons From Kerouac and the Beat Generation.” In Nate Mickelson, ed., Writing as A Way of Staying Human in A Time That Isn’t (pp. 193-209). Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2018.
Omar Swartz, “Gay Rights/African American Rights: A Common Struggle for Social Justice,” Socialism & Democracy, 29.2 (2015): 1-24.
Courses Taught
HUMN 4251 Introduction to Legal Studies
HUMN 4325 First Amendment: Theory and Context
PSCI 4487 Constitutional Law II
SSCI 5020 Foundations and Theories of Interdisciplinary Studies
SSCI 5540 Law & Diversity in United States History