Daniel Mendiola

Daniel Mendiola is an Assistant Professor of History at Vassar College since 2021. His research focuses on Central America’s Caribbean borderlands, indigenous confederations like the Mosquito Kingdom, and the intersection of migration, asylum law, and nation-building. His book manuscript The Mosquito Confederation examines colonial-era resistance to Spanish and English colonization.

Education: B.A. (2009) and Ph.D. (2018) in History from the University of Houston. Previously served as a Faculty Fellow at NYU’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Research interests include environmental history, women’s history, and oral history methodologies. Courses taught include Environmental History of Latin America, Conquest and Borderlands, and Women’s History of Latin America.

Recent publications include La feminización de los derechos migratorios (2021) analyzing gendered dimensions of migration rights in Central America. Active in interdisciplinary programs such as Environmental Studies and Latin American and Latinx Studies.

Personal: Self-taught accordion player, often practices cumbias/vallenatos near Vassar Lake.