Yvonne Swartz-Hammond, Ph.D.

Of Canadian Blackfoot descent, Swartz-Hammond has been teaching and studying Native American literature for over thirteen years in both public high schools and higher education. Drawn to the perspectives of Race and Gender Studies, Swartz-Hammond hopes to bring greater awareness to the way Native voices can help enhance discussions outside of Native studies. Her work tends to examine epic narratives, particularly creative non-fiction forms of storytelling. Influenced by the work of Gerald Vizenor, Swartz-Hammond’s most recent project uses the term survivance to explore historical narration in 20th Century American texts in which the child’s experience of or witnessing trauma reveals conflict between family and state-sponsored identities. All of her syllabi are stamped by her interest, commonly featuring Native stories in conversation with mainstream texts. Swartz-Hammond is currently working at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ where she anticipates working with new MELUS curriculum for American Studies majors and a MELUS young adult literature topics course for education majors.

Her publications include: “Cleaning Up Your Act: Surveillance, Queer Sex, and the Imprisoned Body.” Feminist Perspectives on Orange is the New Black: Thirteen Critical Essays. Ed. April Householder and Adrienne Trier-Bieniek. McFarland, 2016, 77-95; “Prison Days: Observations and Reservations of a Public Scholar.” Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal, Special Issue: Prison Narratives and Criminalization. (forthcoming Spring 2019); Ryan, Katy and Yvonne Hammond. “Work & Hope and the West Virginia State Penitentiary.” West Virginia History: A Journal of Regional Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, 2017, pp. 29-44; Baldwin, Sandy, Yvonne Hammond, Katie Hubbard, Kwabena Opoku-Agyemange, Gabriel; and Tremblay-Gaudette, and Phillip Zapkin. “Beckett Spams Counter-Strike.” Sens Public, July 21, 2016. Accessed August 22, 2017. 

She has taught NAS 200: Introduction to Native American Studies, NAS 493A: Native Images/Pop Culture, ENGL 212: Native American Literature (Rowan University), and ENGL 156: Literature of Native America.