Erik Doxtader

Erik Doxtader is a Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of South Carolina’s McCausland College of Arts and Sciences. He holds a PhD from Northwestern University (1997) and BA from the University of Kansas (1988). His research focuses on rhetoric’s intersection with ethics, politics, and transitional justice, particularly in post-apartheid South Africa and comparative reconciliation processes.

• Education: PhD, Northwestern University (1997); BA, University of Kansas (1988)

His work examines how rhetoric navigates historical violence, reconciliation frameworks, and the ethical dimensions of political discourse. He co-directs the Conference on Rhetorical Theory and edits Philosophy & Rhetoric. Recent research explores transitional justice’s rhetorical underpinnings and the philosophical roots of human rights discourse.

Awards & Grants:

• Partner Investigator, Australian Research Council Discovery Project (2012–2017)
• Carolina Core Course Development Grant (2012)
• Rhetoric Society of America Annual Book Award (2010)

Grants & Projects include collaborative studies on reconciliation in South Africa, Australia, and Northern Ireland. His current projects address rhetoric’s role in transitional justice and the ontological dimensions of language.

He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town and actively contributes to interdisciplinary dialogues on ethics, violence, and constitutional politics.