Teaching

I was hired in 1995 to teach the History of Latin America—I consider myself a sort of “NAFTA hire”; the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect on 1 January 1994 and forever changed the dynamic between the United States and Mexico (and, lest we forget (but we always do), Canada). The leaders of the college, post-NAFTA, decided to connect the history department curriculum to the new political, economic and social realities imposed by late twentieth century “globalization.”

I have been privileged to spend time teaching the history of Latin America to Rhodes College students. Most students arrive to my classes with limited exposure to the complex history, geography and culture of Latin America, but they are eager to begin learning a history that is intrinsically interconnected with European, African and U.S. history. I have taught the standard survey sequence (Colonial, 1500-1826 and Contemporary, 1826 to today). I also teach a History of Latin America through Feature Film, a course that deals with the History of United States-Latin American relations, and a History of Religion in Latin America among other courses. Students leave my classes, ojalá, with a clear understanding of learning as a life-long journey that should be exciting and challenging yet thoroughly grounded in critical reflection and analysis. 

Research

My scholarship focuses on the social, political and religious history of Latin America, more specifically, Colombia. Most of my work has been conducted in collaboration with historians in Latin America and social scientists in the U.S. For example, my most recent book An Atlas and Survey of Latin American History (October, 2006) is co-authored with the Colombian historian Germán R. Mejía. I co-edited a book of readings dealing with U.S.-Latin American relations in collaboration with the political scientist Frank O. Mora who currently teaches at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. That book, Neighborly Adversaries, was originally published in 1999 and was re-released in a second, completely revised edition in September, 2006. This edition contains an original essay on the history of immigration from Latin America which I had the opportunity to co-author with Rhodes College alumnus Lance R. Ingwersen (’03). Over the past ten years, I have worked on translation projects in Colombia to help disseminate historical scholarship in that country. The most recent translation effort was published in November, 2005 in Bogotá as La Nueva Granada colonial: selección de textos históricos. I co-edited that work with the Colombian historians Diana Bonnett, Germán Mejía, and Mauricio Nieto.

How I spend my summers?

Since 1993, I have lived in Colombia for the equivalent of five years. Bogotá is a second home for me and the Colombian people have always treated me with grace, kindness and social solidarity. During my summer breaks from Rhodes College, I move to Bogotá; there, I have taught history courses at three different universities, twice under the sponsorship of the J. William Fulbright scholarship program. In 2004, I developed and taught an unapologetically partisan history course at Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá) titled “American History Left.” Students read Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, Eric Foner and Martin Luther King, Jr.