Colonial Latin America Scholar Joins History Department

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Shawn Austin

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Shawn M. Austin will join the Department of History in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences as an assistant professor this fall. He comes to the University of Arkansas from Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

"I am very excited to have Dr. Austin join the Fulbright family," said Kathryn Sloan, department chair. "His teaching experience at all levels and his research focus on the surprising ethnogenesis of Spaniards as they adapted and responded to indigenous kinship customs in Guaraní regions of Paraguay is simply fascinating."

Austin has taught a variety of courses on colonial Latin American history. He is working on an edited volume titled Native Peoples of the Colonial Río de la Plata, as well as a book manuscript titled Beyond the Missions: the Guaraní and the Encomienda Community in Colonial Paraguay.

"I am thrilled to be joining the University of Arkansas community," Austin said. "I look forward to working and collaborating with colleagues in the history department and members of the Latin American and Latino Studies program."

Austin holds a Bachelor of Arts in history with a Spanish minor from Brigham Young University-Idaho. He earned a Master of Arts and a doctorate with distinction in Latin American history from the University of New Mexico.

About the Department: The Department of History advances public knowledge and understanding of past events through studying written, oral and visual sources and the teaching and research of political, social, diplomatic, cultural, intellectual and environmental history. Faculty expertise includes a variety of geographies and cultures, from the ancient to the post-modern world.