I am a historian of Guatemala during the Spanish colonial period and associate professor of Latin American history at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. I’m interested in how people recreate meaning and community after long migrations and/or in radically changed circumstances.
I’ve published two books about Mesoamerican allies of the Spanish conquistadors in Central America, Memories of Conquest and Indian Conquistadors. I also created the digital archive Náhuatl/Nawat en Centro América with programmer Michael Bannister. I’m currently working on a book tentatively titled Walking Backwards: Commerce, Migration, and Memory in Pacific Central America, 1570-1630, which considers the persistence of Mesoamerican commerce and material culture in the midst of disaster.
I have a beautiful family that never complains when I disappear into the archive.
You can reach me at laura.matthew@marquette.edu
Laura E Matthew 