Miguel A. Valerio

Miguel A. Valerio is an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Washington University in St. Louis.

Education

• Ph.D. in Latin American colonial studies, The Ohio State University

Research Interests

Dr. Valerio's research centers on Afrodescendants’ festive and ritual practices in the early modern Iberian world (15th-18th centuries), with concentrated analysis of identity, performance, and power dynamics among Black Kings and Queens in colonial Mexico City. His interdisciplinary approach bridges historical analysis with cultural performance studies to examine agency within Afrodescendant communities.

Publications

His scholarly output includes articles in Afro-Hispanic Review and Confraternitas, alongside a chapter in the edited volume Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019). He is currently completing his first monograph, The Black Kings and Queens of Colonial Mexico City: Identity, Performance, and Power, 1539-1640, which represents a significant contribution to understanding socio-political structures in colonial Latin America.