Ricardo Alvarez-Pimentel
| Bio | My research interests include the history of revolutions and upheavals, authoritarian politics, nationalism, religion, gender and race relations as they pertain to Latin America and the Caribbean region. I am currently working on bolstering my dissertation and turning it into a book, which is tentatively titled From Secret War to Cold War: Race, Catholicism, and the Un-Making of Counterrevolutionary Mexico, 1917-1946. This work examines the rise and fall of a religious counterrevolutionary movement spearheaded by Catholic women and youth groups from Mexico City’s urban elite. It traces the evolution of their political projects, as advanced by the Mexican Catholic Social League and the Mexican Catholic Action organization, from the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to the early Cold War. My book ultimately examines how anti-indigenous racism and constructions of whiteness were at the heart of these women’s calls to Catholic social action. It reveals how their moralization campaigns, anticommunist discourses, and religious pedagogical projects became sites of gendered race-making and contested power. In addition to my forthcoming book, I am currently working on two peer-reviewed article projects: one on the fascist tendencies of Mexico’s Catholic women activists and another on U.S.-Mexico relations as seen through the eyes of the U.S. Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal society. I have published in English- and Spanish-language journals and worked with archival collections in Mexico, Europe, and the United States. I am also a co-founder and leading member of the Historians of Catholic Mexico (HISTCATMEX) academic network. I organize seminars, workshops, and conferences that engage U.S. and Mexican historians of all levels—from advanced graduate students to emeritus scholars. I draw inspiration for my work from my Catholic upbringing and Mexican heritage. I am invested in the fight for social justice and believe that academics have a public responsibility to engage with the most pressing issues of our time. In the classroom, I strive to create a safe and equitable learning environment that encourages dialogue and diverse perspectives. This involves intentionally crafting inclusive syllabi and facilitating student discussion to promote mutual understanding, active listening, and shared airspace. Prior to my arrival at Baylor, I worked with talented and inquisitive students at Yale, SUNY-Albany, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I welcome inquiries about my research. |
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| Status | Bienvenides/Welcome! |
| University or affiliation | Baylor University |
| Credentials | Ph.D. History (Yale); M.A. History (Yale); B.A. History (University of Chicago) |
| Focus by topic | Accion Catolica Mexicana; women and youth; race, whiteness, Hispanidad; fascism and authoritarianism; anti-Protestantism; US-Mexico; Spain-Mexico |
| Focus by era | 1910s-1950s |
Publications
Alvarez-Pimentel, Ricardo J. (2020) “Unspoken Whiteness: #Whitexicans And Religious Conservatism in Mexico.,” Journal of Hispanic and Lusophone Whiteness Studies (HLWS): Vol. 1 : Iss. 2020 , Article 4.
Description/link: https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/hlws/vol1/iss2020/4/
“Guerra Fría, Guerra Cristera, Guerreras Católicas: El conservadurismo y feminismo católico de la Juventud Católica Femenina Mexicana (JFCM), 1926-1939,” in “Segundo Coloquio: Pensar las derechas en América Latina en el siglo XX,” Nuevo Mundo, Mundos Nuevos [online journal]. Workshops, Online since 02 October 2017.
Description/link: https://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/71299