James Dawes
DeWitt Wallace Professor of English and Creative Writing
Narrative across the disciplines.
Old Main 200
[email protected]
James Dawes teaches narrative across the disciplines. His areas of research expertise include human rights, artificial intelligence, and the ethics of storytelling in fields ranging from creative writing to video game design. He is the author of several books, including Evil Men, winner of the International Human Rights Book Award, and That the World May Know: Bearing Witness to Atrocity, Independent Publisher Book Award Finalist. He has written for or appeared as the feature guest on media outlets ranging from National Public Radio, the BBC, and Bulgarian National Radio to the Boston Globe, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and CNN.com. He was a Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows, Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. in English Literature from Harvard University and his M. Phil. from Cambridge University.
In the News
- From besting Tetris AI to epic speedruns – inside gaming’s most thrilling feats – James Dawes
The Conversation (January 2024) - ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ became the surprise hit of 2023 by upending conventional wisdom about what gives video games broad appeal – James Dawes
The Conversation (November 30, 2023) - Autonomous weapons a solution to war crimes? – James Dawes
Article 36, A discussion paper (June 2022) - It is time to make ecocide an international crime – James Dawes
Open Global Rights (January 12, 2022) - UN fails to agree on ‘killer robot’ ban as nations pour billions in Autonomous weapons research – James Dawes
The Conversation, Reprinted by over two dozen other news outlets. (December 20, 2021)
The world can halt an arms race over killer robots. Why is the Biden administration standing in the way? – James Dawes
The Washington Post, Opinion section (December 16, 2021) - An autonomous robot may have already killed people – here’s how the weapons could be more destabilizing than nukes – James Dawes
The Conversation (September 29, 2021) - The case for and against autonomous weapons systems – James Dawes
Nature Human Behaviour (August 21, 2017) - To understand perpetrators we must care about them – James Dawes
openDemocracy (March. 22, 2017) - Graphic Violence: When Is It Ethical to look? – James Dawes
Australian Broadcasting Corporation RN (Apr. 9, 2015) - Are We Prepared to Bear the Moral Paradox of Evil? – James Dawes
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Sept. 5, 2014) - Can We Forgive War Criminals? – James Dawes
TTBOOK interview – Wisconsin Public Radio (Sept. 13, 2013) - ‘Evil Men’ by James Dawes
The Washington Post (Aug. 9, 2013) - Understanding Evil
The Chronicle of Higher Education (July 1, 2013) - Evil Men: James Dawes
CBC Radio’s The Current (June 6, 2013) - Speaking of Evil
The Brooklyn Rail (June 3, 2013) - Is Empathy Bad?
Harvard University Press Blog (June 3, 2013) - Appearance on Moncrieff
Newstalk Ireland (May 31, 2013) - Evil Men by James Dawes
Times Higher Education (May 30, 2013) - Why a man eats another man’s heart
CNN Opinion (May 15, 2013) - Any good from evil?
WNYC Radio – The Brian Lehrer Show (May 13, 2013) - James Dawes describes the complexity of war criminals in ‘Evil Men’
MinnPost (May 1, 2013) - Book pick: ‘Evil Men’ by James Dawes
Minnesota Public Radio (April 30, 2013) - “Conversations with evil men”
This article about the book Evil Men appeared in the Boston Globe (April 28, 2013) - Book Review: Evil Men
South China Morning Post (April 21, 2013)
Presentations
- Big Questions: What happened to human rights?
- MacTalks video: What’s It All About
- Write Well series video: Every Sentence is a Sandwich
Digital Student Projects
- Unediting Dickinson
- alt lit: The Modern Gothic
Areas of Study
- American literature
- Countercultures
- Human rights
- Literary and language theory
- Violence and trauma
- Literature and Philosophy
- Artificial Intelligence
Fall 2025 Courses
- ENGL 125-F1 Studies in Literature: Writing Against the Machine (FYC)
- ENGL 150-03 Introduction to Creative Writing