Robert C. Schwaller

Robert C. Schwaller is a Professor and Department Chair in the Department of History at the University of Kansas. His work focuses on the intellectual and social history of race in Latin America, with a particular emphasis on the African Diaspora in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, as well as the ethnohistory of Mesoamerica. Schwaller’s research explores how racial categories evolved in colonial contexts, drawing from legal, cultural, and societal frameworks.

• 2012: Celebration of Teaching Honoree, Center for Teaching Excellence
• 2024: Co-edited Overlooked Places and Peoples with Dana Velasco Murillo (Routledge)
• 2021: Authored African Maroons in Sixteenth-Century Panama (University of Oklahoma Press)
• 2018: Contributed Creating Monstrosity in Colonial Spanish America (Routledge)
• 2016: Published Géneros de Gente in Early Colonial Mexico (University of Oklahoma Press)

His recent publications and Google Scholar citations highlight a focus on maroon communities, racial dynamics, and indigenous-African collaborations in the Spanish Empire. Schwaller’s work spans topics like casta paintings, demographic trends, biopolitical governance, and resistance to colonial rule. He also examines language use, such as Nahuatl’s role in colonial society.

He has been recognized for his pedagogical excellence and serves on the executive committee of the Latin American Area Studies Program. His courses include Colonial Latin America, Afro-Latin America, and specialized seminars on Mexico and the Caribbean.