Dr. Schwartz’s areas of scholarship include deimperial/decolonial studies; Asian and Asian American theology; political theology; and critical race, gender, and sexuality studies. Her dissertation, titled “The Ends of Shame: Toward a Deimperial Political Theology of Messianism,” investigated the development of shame theories under European and US imperialism, with an emphasis on the role of US Cold War politics in Asia in constructing political and theological understandings of shame and guilt.

Dr. Schwartz has contributed chapters in two recently published books: “The Shame Culture of Empire: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword as Cold War Playbook for Legitimating US Empire” in Feminist Praxis Against U.S. Militarism, edited by W. Anne Joh and Nami Kim, Lexington Books 2020; and “Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Appreciation” in When Kids Ask Hard Questions: Faith-filled Responses for Tough Topics, edited by Karen Ware Jackson and Bromleigh McCleneghan, Chalice Press 2019.