Carmen Coury

Carmen Coury, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Latin American History at Southern Connecticut State University. She specializes in the history of nation-building, race, coffee, and migration, particularly in Costa Rica and the broader Latin American context. Her research challenges official national narratives by focusing on marginalized communities' perspectives. She teaches courses on Colonial and Modern Latin American history, the Hispanic Caribbean, revolutions, oral history, and transnational themes.

Dr. Coury’s first monograph, The Saints of Progress (2019), examines Costa Rica’s national identity through the lens of coffee production and peripheral regions. Her current research explores the origins and consequences of Costa Rica’s 'whiteness' mythology. She has published articles on topics including the Inter-American Highway’s role in U.S. imperialism and early 20th-century Costa Rican emigration to the U.S.

Her presentations include talks at institutions like the University of Costa Rica and the Newberry Library. She actively contributes to academic discourse through book reviews in journals like The Americas and engages with contemporary issues such as migration policies under the Trump administration. Her work bridges historical analysis with contemporary social dynamics, emphasizing marginalized voices in national identity formation.