Safia Swimelar
Professor of Political Science and Public Policy
Department: Political Science and Public Policy
Email: sswimelar@elon.edu
Phone number: (336) 278-6630
Professional Expertise
Brief Biography
I am a Professor in the department of Political Science and Policy Studies. I joined the Elon faculty in 2008 after teaching several years at the University of the South-Sewanee and completing my Ph.D. in political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2003). I was the coordinator of Elon's International and Global Studies major/minor from 2014-2023. My main areas of both research and teaching are: international relations, comparative politics, international human rights, international law, European politics, post-communist politics (specifically the Balkans), nationalism and identity politics, democratization, LGBT rights and politics, film and politics, and global studies pedagogy. One of the main avenues of my research has been to examine the process of norm change in Europe and how new ideas and principles diffuse to the domestic sphere. I had an opportunity to examine these issues as a Fulbright Scholar in Sarajevo, Bosnia in 2006-07. I have published an article examining post-war Bosnia’s challenges to promote human rights and tolerance within a segregated and nationalistic education system and another publication on the effects of the international criminal trial of Slobodan Miloševic on Bosnian politics and society. I examined the use of images of "dead enemies" as strategic narratives by U.S. presidential administrations in the "war on terror." Most recently, I have published three peer-reviewed articles on the politics of LGBT rights change and nationalism in Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia in Human Rights Quarterly, East European Politics and Societies, and Nationalities Papers. I am currently working on research related to the role of images in how the media promotes specific narratives surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the wider war in Ukraine.
I love teaching at Elon and getting to interact with inquisitive students!
News & Notes
Education
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Ph.D., 1998-2003, Political Science
Major fields: International Relations, Comparative Politics
Dissertation: The Making of Minority Rights: International Norms, Transnational Actors, and National Identity in Romania and the Czech Republic
Adviser: Dr. David P. Forsythe
University of Texas-Austin, 1991-1998, B.A. and M.A., Government
Master's Thesis on the Roma (Gypsies) of Eastern Europe
Employment History
Professor of Political Science, 2020-present
Coordinator, International and Global Studies, 2014-2023
Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Elon University, 2013-2020
Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Elon University, 2008-2013
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, 2003-2008
Fulbright Scholar, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2006-07
Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1998-2003
Courses Taught
International Relations (POL 1410)
Comparative Politics (POL 1610)
International Law (POL 3430)
Human Rights (POL 3480)
International and Global Studies Senior Seminar (IGS 4970)
Global Studies: Approaches and Perspectives (IGS 2500)
Foundations of Peace and Conflict Studies (PCS 3500)
European Politics (POL 3640)
American Politics and Film (POL 3130)
Winter Term Abroad: Divided Lands: Identities, Borders, and Politics in Cyprus and Bosnia
Leadership Positions
Coordinator, International and Global Studies, Interdisciplinary Major/Minor, 2014-2023
Coordinator of Peace and Conflict Studies Minor, 2011-2014
Faculty Adviser for Elon student organization, The Politics Forum, February 2012-2018
Coordinator of the Global Neighborhood's Film Series, 2013-2022
Research
Research interests: International Relations and Comparative Politics -- human rights, international norms/law, international relations theory-constructivism, democratization, European Union politics and integration, nationalism, identity politics, minority rights, LGBTQ rights and issues, images/film/photography and politics
Regional Focus: Europe (west/east) and the Balkans; European Union
See below for current projects
Current Projects
Currently, I am working on a research project that examines the role of images in European media's promotion of specific narratives about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the wider war in Ukraine. I am also working on a project that examines the way that some films have had important effects on political discourse, political attitudes, and public policy, specifically concerning animal rights and welfare.
More generally, I am engaged in scholarship on the visualization of human rights, specifically how we understand images of suffering and violence and their political significance.
Grants Awarded
Summer Research Fellowship, Elon University, Summer 2011, 2013, 2019
Elon’s Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE) $2,000 faculty research grant for International and Global Studies pedagogy research project, October 2018
Elon's Center for Research on Global Engagement’s “Community of Practice” Award focused on study abroad reintegration, September 2017 for 2017-2018
Research Grant from The Turnage Family Faculty Innovation and Creativity Fund for the Study of Political Communication, 2012
Fund for Excellence Grant on “Visualizing Human Rights,” Elon University, Spring 2010
Fulbright Scholar, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2006-07
Publications
2020. International and Global Studies Capstone Seminar Innovations: Multimedia Identity Video Collage and Study Abroad Integration. International Studies Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekz030
2019. LGBT Rights in Bosnia: The Challenge of Nationalism in the Context of Europeanization. Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2019.65
2018. Nationalism and Europeanization in LGBT Rights and Politics: Croatia and Serbia. East European Politics, Societies, and Cultures. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325418805135. Print version: Volume: 33, no.3, p. 603-630 (2019).
2017. The Journey of LGBT Rights: Norm Diffusion and its Challenges in EU Seeking States – Bosnia and Serbia. Human Rights Quarterly. 39 (4): 910-942. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/676707
2017. Deploying Images of Enemy Bodies: U.S. Image Warfare and Strategic Narratives.” Media, War, and Conflict. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635217700850. Print Version: Volume 11, no. 2, p. 179-203 (2018).
2016. “The Struggle for Norm empowerment: Bosnian LGBT Rights Developments,” in Slootmaeckers, K, Touquet, H., Vermeersch, P., Eds., forthcoming. The EU Enlargement and Gay Politics: The Impact of Eastern Enlargement on Rights, Activism and Prejudice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
2015. “Visualizing Human Rights through Film and Photography,” in Mark Gibney and Anja Mihr (eds), Sage Handbook of Human Rights.
2013. “Guilty without a Verdict: Effects of the Miloševic Trial on Bosniaks and Bosnia,” In Timothy Waters (ed.) The Miloševic Trial: An Autopsy (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
2013. “Visualizing International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film,” International Studies Perspectives. https://academic.oup.com/isp/article-abstract/14/1/14/1794051
2012. “Education in Post-war Bosnia: The Nexus of Societal Security, Identity and Nationalism,” Ethnopolitics, March 2012; DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2012.656839. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17449057.2012.656839
“Human Rights through Film: an essay and review of selected films from the Human Rights Watch 2009 Film Festival,” Human Rights Quarterly, November 2010, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 1069-1078
Review Essay on film Standard Operating Procedure, dir. Errol Morris, Human Rights Quarterly, February 2010, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 240-248.
“Visual Culture and Pedagogy: Teaching Human Rights with Film and Images,” Global-e: A Global Studies Journal, vol. 3, issue 10, October 2009.
http://global-ejournal.org/2009/11/11/visual-culture-and-pedagogy-teaching-human-rights-with-film-and-images/
“European Roma,” In Encyclopedia of Human Rights, ed. David P. Forsythe. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 2009.
“The Making of Minority Rights Norms in the Context of EU Enlargement: The Czech Republic and the Roma.” International Journal of Human Rights, vol. 12, no. 4 (Oct. 2008), pp. 505-527.
“Approaches to Ethnic Conflict and Human Rights Protection in Post-Communist Europe: the Need for Preventive Diplomacy.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, vol. 7, no. 3 (2001), pp. 98-126
Presentations
Academic conferences
"Nationalism and Europeanization in Balkan LGBT Rights and Politics,” paper presentation at Southwestern Political Science Association, Austin, TX, April 2017. (Received the Jewel L. Prestage award for best paper on diversity at this conference)
“The Journey of LGBT Rights: Norm diffusion and its challenges in EU seeking states – Bosnia and Serbia” presentation at Association for Study of Nationalities (ASN), Columbia University, New York, April 14-16, 2016.
“The Journey of LGBT Rights: Norm diffusion and its challenges in EU seeking states – Bosnia and Serbia,” presentation at Southern Political Science Association (SPSA), San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 7-9, 2016.
"The Politics of Norm Diffusion: Comparing Europeanization and Nationalism in LGBT Rights and Politics in Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia," International Studies Association, New Orleans, February 17-21, 2015.
“Europeanization and Nationalism: Comparing LGBT Rights and Politics in Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia,” presentation at conference - EU Enlargement, Democracy, and the Politics of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Brussels, Belgium, February 4-5, 2015
“Images, the Media, and Human Rights Narratives: The political, normative, and strategic uses of images of political violence and human rights in post 9/11 United States,” presentation at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), San Francisco, CA, April 2013.
“Framing the Unwanted: The Case of the French Roma Expulsions as a Window onto European Union Principles and Human Rights Norms,” presented at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), San Diego, California, April 1-4, 2012.
“Representation, Ideology, and Identity in Documentary Film on Eastern Europe,” presented at Association for Study of Nationalities conference (ASN), Columbia University, New York, April 14-16, 2011.
“Visual Culture as a Pedagogical Tool Toward Human Rights and Global Citizenship” paper presented at the American Political Science Association (APSA) Meeting, Toronto, Canada, September 2-6, 2009.
“Education Reform, Human Rights and Security in Post-War Bosnia,” paper presented at the International Studies Association-South Meeting in Ashland, Virginia, October 2008.
“Human Rights, Education, and Security in Post-War Bosnia: the Role of European Actors,” paper presented at the International Studies Association Convention, San Francisco, CA, March 2008.
“EU Enlargement and Minority Rights: Hegemony and Norm Socialization,” presented at the International Studies Association conference, Montreal, Canada, March 2004.
“Human Rights and the Roma in the Czech Republic,” presented at International Political Science Association, Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 1999.
Invited Talks, Panel Presentations, and Commentary
Guest on WUNC North Carolina Public Radio, Durham, “The State of Things,” with Frank Stasio on “Social Media and Social Change - Kony 2012 video,” March 29, 2012.
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/Social_Media_and_Social_Change.mp3/view
Presenter on 9/11 Panel as part of Ashby Dialogue, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, September 7, 2011.
Presenter on Elon Panel on the death of Bin Laden, May 2011.
“Teaching Human Rights Through Film” lectures at Summer Human Rights Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, July 2009 and July 2010.
Presenter on Elon Panel on conflict in Afghanistan sponsored by Non-Violence Studies, April 2009.
Professional Activities
- Program Committee, Balkans section of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), September 2018-present
- Executive Committee member of International Studies Association-South, September 2018-2022
- Member of Elon’s Center for Research on Global Engagement's “Community of Practice” focused on study abroad reintegration, 2018-2019
- Founding member of UNC (Chapel Hill) Forum on Southeast Europe – research group of scholars that hosts workshops, roundtables, and presentations of our and others’ research
- Manuscript reviewer for academic journals: Media, War, and Conflict, International Studies Perspectives, European Journal of International Relations, International Journal of Human Rights, American Political Science Review, Foreign Policy Analysis (ongoing)
- Application Reviewer and Interviewer for the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship (for careers in the U.S. State Department), Spring 2017 (off site and in Washington D.C.)
Service Activities
Coordinator, International and Global Studies Program, 2014-2023
Member of Elon University Curriculum Committee, August 2018-2021
Member of Global Neighborhood Committee (Residential Life) and coordinator of Global Neighborhood Film Series, Fall 2012-2021
Faculty Adviser for Elon student organization, The Politics Forum, February 2012-2018
Member of Asian Studies minor advisory board, 2014-2023
Coordinator of Peace and Conflict Studies minor, 2011-2014
Member of Elon's Global Neighborhood Committee, Fall 2013-2021
Mentor for undergraduate research, Fellows students, and Lumen scholars
Personal Information
Skills
Languages
Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (proficient)
French (proficient)
Czech (intermediate)
Spanish (conversational)
Italian (conversational)
Awards
- Elon College of Arts and Sciences Award for Service and Leadership, August 2018
- Elon’s Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE) $2,000 faculty research grant for International and Global Studies pedagogy research project, October 2018
- Elon's Center for Research on Global Engagement’s “Community of Practice” Award focused on study abroad reintegration, September 2017 for 2017-2018
- Recipient of the Jewel Limar Prestage Best Paper Award from the Southwestern Political Science Association for paper “Nationalism and Europeanization in Balkan LGBT Rights and Politics,” October 2018
- Faculty Summer Research Fellowship and travel funds from Faculty Research and Development Committee, Elon University, Summer 2013 and 2011.
- Research Grant from The Turnage Family Faculty Innovation and Creativity Fund for the Study of Political Communication, Received March 2012 ($5,000)