Think you understand the American gun debate? Think again. In Noah's ethnography of the National Rifle Association, he goes inside the organization and American gun culture. 

"Leave it to a Canadian to understand gun culture in the United States better than most American scholars do." - David Yamane, Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest University. 

"This is not some dry, academic treatment; Noah Schwartz delivers a rich, evocative, and personal account of his own experiences learning to use firearms and encountering members of the NRA and gun-owning community." - Melissa K. Merry, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Louisville.

To learn more click the image, or head right to Amazon to pick up your copy. 

Dr. Noah S. Schwartz is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of the Fraser Valley. His research focuses on advocacy groups, social movements, and firearms policy in Canada and the United States. His research interests include group politics and social movements; the politics of narrative and memory; the theories of the policy process; and firearms policy.

Noah is a firm believer that engaged scholarship means bridging the gap between academics and the general public, and a strong commitment to teaching excellence. 

"I spent the summer of 2019 with the National Rifle Association (NRA) trying to find out more about how the organization tells stories in order to build a political community of gun owners". 

My project, Quick Draw History, was selected as one of 5 finalists for the SSHRC Storyteller Contest. 

Noah was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada. After graduating from Canterbury High School having completed two years of Dramatic Arts training, Noah went on to major in Global Politics at Carleton University. This small, boutique degree included an international internship, which he completed with the Global Detention Project in Geneva, Switzerland.

For his Master's Degree, Noah crossed the Atlantic to study Defence, Development and Diplomacy at Durham University in the United Kingdom. The program included intensive three-day workshops with experts in the field. He completed workshops on Negotiation, Conflict Mediation, and Counter-Terrorism. Noah also wrote his Master's dissertation on the use of history as a weapon of war in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.

After working for two years in casual contracts with Global Affairs Canada and the Privy Council Office, Noah returned to academia to undertake a Ph.D. His dissertation examined the role of memory and narrative in the American gun debate and involved ethnographic field research in Northern Virginia. He defended his dissertation in March 2021 and received a Senate Medal for excellence. 

Noah has been recognized for excellence in teaching and research with several awards, including the 2021 Faculty of Public Affairs Teaching Excellence Award (Contract Instructor). He was also a winner of the 2020 SSHRC Storyteller contest. 

When not at work, Noah is probably somewhere outside. He enjoys cross country skiing, hiking, travel, and the great outdoors.