David Zwart 
Assistant Chair
Associate Professor of History
Mackinac Hall D-1-202
[email protected]
(616) 331-8818

Fields: Social Studies Education, Migration History, Dutch-American History

Degrees: 
Ph.D., History, Western Michigan University, 2012
M.A., History, California State University, Fresno, 2004 
B.A., History and Education, Dordt College, 1999 

Teaching Fields: Social Studies Strategies, Social Studies Capstone, American History, Field Supervision

Research Interests:
I am most interested in researching and writing about the intersection of religion, ethnicity, and commemoration. I have done this by examining how Dutch Americans in the twentieth century constructed an ethno-religious identity through commemorations of institutions and enclaves.

I am also interested in pre-service teacher preparation in the field of history and social studies education, particularly examining historical thinking.

Selected Publications and Presentations:
“It’s Just Different: Identifying Features of Disciplinary Literacy Unique to World History,” with Tamara Shreiner. The History Teacher, 53, no. 3 (May 2020).

“Teaching the Past: History Education among Dutch Americans” in Dutch Reformed Education: Immigrant Legacies in North America, Donald Luidens, Donald J. Bruggink, and Herman J. DeVries, Jr., eds. Holland, Mich.: Van Raalte Press, 2020.

“Telling Heartland Histories: Rural Iowa Protestant Congregations in the Mid-Twentieth Century” The Annals of Iowa 77, no. 4 (Fall 2018), 384-415.

"For the Next Generation: Commemorating the Immigration Experience in the United States and Canada" Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Econonmische Geschiedenis 7, no. 2 (2010): 126-150.

"Constructing the Homeland: Dutch Americans and the Netherlands Information Bureau during the 1940s," Michigan Historical Review 33, no. 3 (Fall 2007): 81-100.\