Daniel Castro, Ph.D
Professor of History
Mood-Bridwell Hall 215
phone: 512-863-1511
email: castrod@southwestern.edu | cv
I joined the History Department at Southwestern in 1996, after having taught at Hartwick College in upstate New York, as well as Tulane and Loyola Universities in New Orleans. I was born and raised in Peru where I lived until the age of seventeen. I received a B.A. in Political Science from Loyola University, an M.A in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Latin American History from Tulane University. My area of concentration is Colonial Latin American history. I have focused particular attention on the role played by religious reformers, the Inquisition, and the consequences of ecclesiastical imperialism in creation of a New World resulting from the fusion and collision of two dissimilar worlds like Europe and America. I also explore the history of modern Indoamerican revolutionary movements and their role as agents of transformation.
My written work is a reflection of my academic interests, I have published a critical re-evaluation of the sixteenth-century Spanish cleric, religious reformer and activist Bartolomé de Las Casas: Another Face of Empire: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Indigenous Rights and Ecclesiastical Imperialism (Duke University Press, 2007). I have also edited and published, Revolution and Revolutionaries: Guerrilla Movements in Latin American History (Scholarly Resources, 1999), a selection of primary writings on revolutionary movements in Indoamerica from the XVIII to the XX centuries.
I have written articles and presented academic papers about the Peruvian Inquisition, Indoamerican guerrillas, and Bartolomé de Las Casas. Some of these articles include "Misticismo y Política: El caso de María Pizarro, Fray Francisco de la Cruz y la Inquisición de Lima." Chapter in Visiones del Perú: Académicos peruanos en el extranjero, (Cristina Alcalde and Joseph Zavala, editors, Academia Diplomática del Perú, February 2008). "Che Vive" Review Essay of Paul J. Dosal, Comandante Ché: Guerrilla Soldier, Commander and Strategist, 1956-1967 (American Communist History, March 2006). "Beatas, visionarios e imperialismo eclesiástico: María de Pizarro, Fray Francisco de la Cruz y otras inquisiciones," (Josefa Salmón and Guillermo Delgado, Editors, Identidad, ciudadanía y participación popular desde la colonial al siglo XX, Asociación de Estudios Bolivianos/Bolivian Studies Association, La Paz, Bolivia, 2003). “Bartolomé de Las Casas: Peacemaker in the ‘Land of War.’ ” (Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, 2001). “The General and the Judge: The Case Of General Augusto Pinochet and the Universal Search for Justice.” (And Justice for All, Southwestern University, 2001)."The Interminable War: Guerrilla Movements in Latin American History," "The Revolutionary Path." Luis de la Puente, a translation from Spanish, "The Iron Legions: Women and Armed Struggle in Peru, 1980-1992." (Revolution and Revolutionaries: A History of Guerrilla Movements in Latin America, 1999). "Luchando por la otra mitad del cielo: Mujer y política en Amauta," (Simposio Internacional Amauta y su Época, Editorial Amauta, Lima, 1998). "War Is Our Daily Life: Women's Participation in Sendero Luminoso," "Concerning the Education of Women" by Teresa de Fanning; and "A Comparative Study of Women's Intelligence and Beauty" by Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera, translations from Spanish, in (Confronting Change, Challenging Tradition: Women in Latin American History. Gertrude Yeager, ed. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1994), among others.
I am currently working on two book projects, Creole Utopia: Francisco de La Cruz, the Inquisition of Lima and the Politics of Mysticism (working title). I am also completing preliminary research on another book on Indoamerican revolution, Artigas' Heirs: The MLN-Tupamaros and the Struggle for the "Second Liberation" of Uruguay (working title), a monograph on the evolution and history of the Uruguayan National Liberation Movent (MLN-Tupamaros), their revolutionary struggle and their later accomplishments in the democratically elected government of Uruguay.
I teach classes centered almost exclusively with finding new insights and exploring new avenues of investigation into the multifaceted emergence and development of Indoamerica from the sixteenth century to the present. I teach surveys on Colonial and Modern Latin America. I also teach classes on Guerrilla Movements in Latin American History, Old World New world Encounters, Indoamerican Colonial Inquisitions, cross listed with Religious Studies. Latin American History in Film and Literature. My interest in revolutionary movements informs my teaching of a capstone research seminar: On Revolution. I also have taught and continue to teach various iterations of a First Year Seminar exploring the treatment of social contradictions such as war and alienation in film and literature.
Since coming to Southwestern I have had the opportunity to co-organize a Brown Symposium, "España y América: Cultural Encounter, Lasting Legacy," which featured author Carlos Fuentes and peace activist Rigoberta Menchú. I have also had the privilege of being one of the founding members of the Latin American Studies program. I am currently an active participant in the Writer's Voice Committee, and a Paideia Professor whose cohort works actively in the Computers for Honduran Children, a student-driven program for refurbishing, reimaging and recycling used computers so they can be utilized by school children in rural Honduras.
