Areas of Research

Modern Latin American history (twentieth-century Argentina), popular culture, sports history, digital tools and new media in the teaching and learning of history

Current Research

  • Ongoing: Analyzing soccer’s impact in the construction of identities (national, masculine, regional) and politics of respectability, with a particular focus on questions of public behavior and concerns over Argentina’s international standing (1920s-early 1970s).
  • New: Examining the role that sports and leisure played in the formation of civic identity in Costa Rica’s central valley between 1870 and 1970; Impact of active learning strategies, new media, and classroom design on the teaching of history.

Publications

BOOK MANUSCRIPT
  • Civilization and Barbarism in Argentine Fútbol (in progress) explores the underlying concerns over incivility, corruption, and violence in Argentine soccer. Sports writers, in particular, expressed a middle-class politics of respectability that echoed ideals from the amateur era, such as “fair play,” that seemed to vanish as the sport became professional and populist. The imagining—and re-imagining—of national identity through fútbol shaped political, economic, and social discourse for much of the twentieth century, leading some to wonder if the worsening conditions at stadiums reflected Argentina’s long decline toward “third-world” status.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
  • “Anxiety in the Sports Pages: The ‘Crises’ Narratives of 1950s Argentine Fútbol” International Journal of the History of Sport 37, no. 5-6 (2020): 357-377. doi: 10.1080/09523367.2020.1754198.
    • This article unpacks a “crisis” narrative in Argentine soccer that dominated sports coverage in the 1950s and reflected the concerns of many journalists about the rise of Peronism and his working-class base.
  • “Digital Approaches to Research and Pedagogy in Latin American Studies,” co-written with Lily Balloffet, The Latin Americanist 62, no. 1 (March 2018), pp. 99-116. doi:10.1111/tla.12180
    • This paper offers guidance to Latin Americanists interested in how digital tools can enhance their research and teaching. It is not a roadmap; rather, through personal experiences the authors hope to inspire ideas and questions.
  • “Omeka to ¡Animales!: Building a Digital Repository of Research on Argentine Soccer” Journal of Sport History 44, no. 2 (Summer 2017), pp. 209-224. doi:10.5406/jsporthistory.44.2.0209.
    • Emanating out of a workshop held at Emory University, this paper offers sports scholars practical considerations for those interested in using digital tools like Omeka to curate and publish their research materials, as well as its application for teaching history.
  • “Pibes, Cracks, and Caudillos: Argentina, the World Cup, and Identity Politics” (co-authored with Charles Parrish), Soccer & Society, vol. 15, no.5 (September 2014), 655-670. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2014.912017
    • This article also appeared as a chapter in Legacies of Great Men in World Soccer, Kausik Bandyopadhyay, ed. (London: Routledge, 2016): Chapter 3. It unpacks the symbolism behind visual, musical, and cinematic works of notable soccer players in Argentine history, and how the national team’s performance at the World Cup either validated or punctured the mythic status of “crack” players.
BOOK CHAPTERS
  • “Pibes, Cracks and Caudillos: Argentina, the World Cup and Identity Politics” is re-published as Chapter 3 in Bandyopadhyay, Kausik, ed. Legacies of Great Men in World Soccer. London: Routledge (2016). ISBN-13: 978-1138095014.
  • “Luis Gabelo Conejo,” “Association Football: Paraguay,” “Association Football: Uruguay,” and “Association Football: Bolivia,” in Nauright, John and Charles Parrish, eds. Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice, 4 Vols. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio (2012) ISBN-13: 978-1598843002.
BOOK REVIEWS
  • Review of Fútbol, Jews, and the Making of Argentina, by Raanan Rein. Bulletin of Latin American Research 36, no. 2 (April 1, 2017): 253–54. doi:10.1111/blar.12617.
  • Review of Sports Culture in Latin American History, by David Sheinin, ed. Journal of Social History, Vol. 50, no. 2 (December 28, 2015): 451-453. doi:10.1093/jsh/shv110.
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS