Jaimee A. Swift received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Howard University, with specializations in Black Politics, International Relations, and Comparative Politics.  She holds a B.A. in Communications from Temple University and a Master's degree in Political Science from Howard University. Prior to joining the JMU community, she was the inaugural Oxford College of Emory University's Office of the Provost Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, where she taught the college's first-ever Global Black Feminist Politics course. Her teaching interests include Black political though and behavior, with an emphasis on Black feminist political theory, resistance, and movement building; Black women's political memories and political productions; and comparative and global racial, gender, and LGBTQ+politics. 

Dr. Swift's research examines Afro-Brazilian LGBTQ+ women's organizing in Salvador, da Bahia, Brazil and their resistance against state, structural, and symbolic violence since Brazil's democratic transition from military dictatorship from the 1980's to present day.  Moreover, she analyzes how their organizing is critical to challenging anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ+ violence and femicide in Brazil and transnationally.