John C. Swanson teaches UHON 3510–Topics in Historical Understanding: The Holocaust. His research specialites are modern Central and Eastern European history, nationalism and ethnic identity, minorities, Holocaust studies, and historical representation on film. Dr. Swanson's current research explores forms of Germanness (of being German) for the German minority in twentieth-century Hungary. He has also begun a project that examines how assimilated Hungarian Jews integrated into Communist Hungary after the Holocaust.

In addition to his work as a historian, Professor Swanson is an accomplished documentary filmmaker. His film About a Village, which explores questions of lost childhood, Heimat, and nostalgia for current and former members of the Hungarian village of Máriakéménd, has been screened at film festivals in London, Montreal, Los Angeles, and New York. He has also directed and produced films about Holocaust education and about music, some of which have been awarded prizes at international film festivals.