Christina Villarreal

Dr. Christina Villarreal is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Texas at El Paso within the College of Liberal Arts. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Latin American History from the University of Texas at Austin in 2020 and 2015, respectively.

• Research Focus: Texas-Louisiana borderlands, fugitives from slavery, desertion, sanctuary networks, and colonial resistance.
• Current Projects: Manuscript "Imperial Fugitives: Apostates, Deserters, and Runaways in the Eighteenth-Century Texas-Louisiana Borderlands" examining geographies of resistance.
• Grants: 2025 UTEP Borderlands Digital Humanities Center grants for "Kinship and Longing: Keywords for Black Louisiana" and "Colonial Connections: People and Places Across New Spain’s Frontier".

Her work spans Colonial Latin America, Borderlands Studies, and Slavery/Resistance Narratives, supported by Fulbright, Ford Foundation, and SSRC-Mellon Mays funding. She teaches History of Texas, Borderlands Studies, and Historiography, with recent awards including the Mary Jon and JP Bryan Award (2025).