Education
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison
M.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A. Curriculum Honors with Distinction, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Research
My research focuses on historiography and representation, visual culture, and religious history. Currently, I am researching a book on Christianity and colonialism in Brazil, Portugal and throughout the South Atlantic world, focused upon Rio de Janeiro's Benedictine Monastery. Previous publications include three books and several articles. Henry Cadbury: Quaker, Pacifist and Skeptic (Brill, 2024), co-authored with my colleague David Watt, examines the life and political choices of the Quaker scholar and activist Henry Cadbury, one of the early twentieth century co-founders of the American Friends Service Committee. Paul Strand in Mexico,1932-34 (Aperture, 2010) utilized photography and film to examine social and cultural history in twentieth century Mexico. As part of this project I served as co-curator for a photography exhibition appearing at several locations including the Aperture Gallery in New York (http://www.aperture.org/gallery). Reviews of the exhibit from a variety of perspectives can be found at artdaily.com and the Wall Street Journal. My first book, Rereading the Conquest: Power, Politics and the History of Early Colonial Michoacán (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001) combined literary theory and historical research to analyze the origins and transformation over time of a specific conquest narrative. It was selected for the Association of University Presses' Books for Understanding: Mexico Book List.
Teaching
My teaching emphasizes learning as a collobarative process where students work alongside faculty as we develop our intelllectual interests, research skills and writing abilities. I offer a range of courses encouraging innovative thinking about global, Latin American and Haverford College history.
Courses Include:
History 114: Origins of the Global South
History 208: Decolonizing Colonial Latin American and Caribbean History
History 252: The History of Haverford College: Conflict, Consensus and the Liberal Arts
History 317: Topics in Latin American History. Topics include: Visions of Mexico; Rio de Janeiro, Past and Present; The Latin American Baroque; Religion, Power and Politics in Latin America.
History 400a and 400b: Senior Thesis.
Publications:
Co-authored with David Watt, Henry Cadbury: Quaker, Pacifist and Skeptic (Brill, 2024).
Paul Strand in Mexico. Aperture, 2010.
Rereading the Conquest: Power, Politics and the History of Early Colonial Michoacán. The Pennsylvania Sate University Press, 2001.
I have also authored several articles and book reviews. I currently serve on the Friedrich Katz Prize Committee of the American Historical Association, which selects the best book on Latin American and Caribbean history published in English each year, and on the Editorial Advisory Board of the interdisciplinary journal Colonial Latin American Review. I am also a member of the American Historical Association, the Latin American Studies Association, and the American Academy of Religion.