James Dawes teaches American literature at Macalester College. He is the author of The Language of War (Harvard University Press, 2002) as well as numerous articles on topics including literary and language theory, international law and human rights, emotions, Shakespeare, literature and medical studies, gender and sexuality, trauma, and pedagogical technique. He has appeared as the feature guest on radio interviews ranging from live, one-hour National Public Radio programs to the BBC Weekend News, and has been interviewed by The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, and many other newspapers.

His recent book, The Language of War, examines the relationship between language and violence, focusing on U.S. literature and culture from the Civil War through World War II. The book proceeds by developing a cluster of related questions: How does war's violence affect literary, legal, and philosophical representations? How does the pressure of violence in a particular historical moment change not only what writers write but how they write? In turn, how does such writing affect the reception and initiation of violence itself? How can language and language artifacts be used to accelerate or decelerate violence?

Dawes's teaching interests include, among other things, American literature from all periods, literary theory and cultural studies, and interdisciplinary approaches to literary studies (ethics, law, psychology, sociology, philosophy, medicine). He is a Lilly Fellow at Macalester College.