Laura M Shelton Associate Professor of History
Biography
I have had a long fascination with Latin America鈥檚 rural borderlands, especially how and why people organized their lives around their families. My book, For Tranquility and Order, explores how nineteenth-century families in northwestern Mexico used their local courtrooms to air grievances, aid loved ones, and present their personal and financial affairs before the state. In the process, these ranchers, widows, artisans, merchants, mothers, fathers, and children did their part to build a new republican order. My current research examines midwives and motherhood in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands and other parts of provinical Mexico from the late eighteenth century through the early twentieth century. I am interested in understanding how the daily lives of these resourceful women changed dramatically against a backdrop of ethnic conflict, rapid modernization, and increasing international interaction among people of the United States and Mexico.
My teaching interests include ethnohistory, the history of caste, class, and race in Latin America, and environmental history. I encourage students to engage in primary research in Latin America, a region with hundreds of overlooked state and local archives. I view education as a collaborative process in which students are active participants. The classroom and the archives are ideal places to embark on a life-long process of intellectual inquiry.
Education
- University of Arizona Ph.D. Latin American History 2004
- Temple University M.A. Latin American History 1996
- McPherson College B.A. Psychology & German 1989
- Marburg Universit盲t Study Abroad 1988-1989
Dissertation: 鈥淔amilies in the Courtroom: Law, Community and Gender in Northwestern Mexico, 1800-1850.鈥�
M.A. Thesis: 鈥淢exican Labor Migration to the United States, 1910-1921 and 1942-1964.鈥�
Research
Gender and Sexuality in Latin America
U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
Nineteenth-Century Latin America
Publications
Guest Editor with Martha Liliana Espinosa Tavares, "Introduction: Special Issue: Reproduction, Contraception, and Obstetrics in Modern Mexico," in Journal of Women's History 34:2 (Summer, 2022) 3-10.
"Birth and Death in the Maternity Ward of the the Guadalajara's Hospital Civil, 1888-1940," in Journal of Women's History 34:2 (Summer, 2022) 31-52.
"Romanticism in Mexico," in The Oxford Handbook of Mexican History. ed. William Beezley (May, 2021) 1-22. file:///Users/lshelton/Downloads/Laura%20Shelton%20Romanticism%20in%20Mexico.pdf
"Creating Modern Medicine and the Modern Nation in Northern Mexico: A Comparative Analysis of Nuevo Leo虂n and Sonora, 1860鈥�1930," in The Latin Americanist 63:4 (2019) 399-424.
鈥淟a Obstetrcia como un s铆mbolo del Estado Moderno: Sonora y Nuevo Le贸n, a fines del siglo XIX y principios del XX,鈥� in El orden social y politico en los terretorios de frontera hispanoamericanso. Siglos XVI-XX (Hermosillo: El Colegio de Sonora y El Colegio de Michoac谩n, 2018) 123-133.
鈥淏odies of Evidence: Honor, Prueba Plena, and Emerging Medical Discourses in Northern Mexico鈥檚 Infanticide Trials in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries,鈥� in The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History 74:4 (October, 2017) 457-480.
"El Infanticidio y Disciplina Populares en el Sistema Judicial de Sonora, M茅xico Entre 1855 y 1929," in Revista Culturales 1:1 (enero-junio de 2017).
"Death and Dying in the Sonoran Borderlands, 1790-1870," in New Mexico Historical Review, (Winter, 2014).
"The Power of the Midwife鈥檚 Word: Examining, Women鈥檚 Work Through Statutory Rape and Infanticide Trials in the Sonoran State Judiciary, 1820-1880," in 惭贰驰滨叠脱 4:7 (2013).
"Los ind铆genas y el imaginario social sobre los ind铆genas en los procesos de estupro y violaci贸n en el juzgado penal de Sonora, 1821-1870" in Indios, espa帽oles y mestizos en zonas de frontera, siglos XVII-XX (Hermosillo: El Colegio de Sonora y El Colegio de Michoac谩n, 2013).
For Tranquility and Order: Family and Community on Mexico鈥檚 Northern Frontier, 1800- 1850, (The University of Arizona Press, April, 2010).
鈥溾�橪as Buenas Costumbres鈥�: Changing Definitions of Honor in the Sonoran Borderlands, 1800-1850,鈥� in Proceedings and Selected Papers of the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era, 1750-1850, 2009.
鈥淟ike a Servant or Like a Son? Circulating Children in Northwestern Mexico, 1790-1850,鈥� in Raising an Empire in Early Modern Iberia and Colonial Latin America, eds., Ondina E. Gonz谩lez and Bianca Premo, (The University of New Mexico Press, 2007), 219-237.
Student Collaborations
Franklin and 四虎影院, Hackman Scholarship with Milena Tutiven and Juan Ayala, Summer 2021
Franklin and 四虎影院 Research Collaboration with Yuliana Tamayo, Spring 2021
Franklin and 四虎影院, Hackman Scholarship with Milena Tutiven, Summer 2020
Franklin and 四虎影院, Hackman Scholarship with Guadalupe Razo, Summer 2019
Franklin and 四虎影院, Hackman Scholarship with Michelle Veliz, Summer 2017
Franklin and 四虎影院, Hackman Scholarship with Morgan Gray, Summer 2015
Franklin and 四虎影院, Hackman Scholarship with Cesar Diego and Morgan Gray, Summer, 2014
Presentations
"Mexico's Provinces and Peripheries: Global Linkages and the Professionalization of Medicine in Jalisco, Nuevo Le贸n, and Sonora, 1870-1940." Paper presented at the American Historical Association, Virtual, January, 2021.
"La historia comparativa de medicina y curaci贸n en Nueva Le贸n y Sonora, 1850-1950." Invited Presentation at El V Coloquio de Estudios Hist贸ricos de Regi贸n y Frontera, Hermosillo, Sonora MX, October, 2019. Invited Presenter.
"Birth and Death in the Maternity Ward of Guadalajara's Hospital Civil, 1870-1940." Paper presented at the History of Science Society, Seattle, November, 2018.
鈥淒octors, Healers, Midwives, and Charlatans: Medical and Legal Encounters in the Courts of Nineteenth-Century Nuevo Le贸n, 1840-1850.鈥� Paper presented at the Rocky Mountain Council of Latin Americans Studies, Salt Lake City, April, 2017.
"Midwives as Intermediaries between Mothers and the Courts in Infanticide Cases on Mexico's Northern Borderlands during the 19th Century," Paper presented at the 15th Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, University of Toronto, Toronto, May 22-25, 2014.
"Nuevas interpretaciones culturales y legales de la violencia m谩s intima: el infanticidio y el abandono infantile en Sonora entre 1850 y 1910," Invited Presentation at El V Coloquio de Estudios Hist贸ricos de Regi贸n y Frontera, Hermosillo, Sonora MX, October, 2013.
鈥淭elling Violence in Nineteenth-Century Northern Mexico: Narratives of Gender and Ethnicity in Sonora鈥檚 Criminal Courts after La Reforma,鈥� Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies and Pacific Coast Latin American Studies, Santa Fe, NM, April, 2013.
鈥淔inding Midwives and Mothers in Mexico鈥檚 Borderlands: Approaches to Studying Women and Medicine in Remote Places,鈥� Invited Presentation at the American Association for the History of Nursing, Savannah, GA, September, 2012.
Invited Presentation of For Tranquility and Order. Family and Community on Mexico鈥檚 Northern Frontier, 1800-1850 at the IV Coloquio de Estudios Hist贸ricos de Regi贸n y Frontera, October 19-21, 2011.
鈥淟os indigenas en los procesos de estupro y violaci贸n en el juzgado penal de Sonora, 1821-1870,鈥� Paper presented at the Colegio de Sonora, IV Coloquio de Estudios Hist贸ricos de Regi贸n y Frontera, 鈥淚nd铆genas, historia y fronteras,鈥� October 19-21, 2011. Invited Presenter.
鈥淢idwives and Republicanism in the Sonoran Borderlands, 1790-1880鈥� Paper presented at the 15th Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, June 9-12, 2011.
鈥淒eath, Debt, and Inheritance: The Circulation of Petty Credit in Northwestern Mexico, 1800-1850,鈥� Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies and Pacific Coast Latin American Studies, Santa Fe, NM, March, 2009
鈥淔rom Mission Indians to Republican Mothers: Missionaries and Indigenous Women of the R铆o Sonora and Yaqui River Valleys of Northwestern Mexico, 1780-1860,鈥� Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Third World Studies, Lima, Peru, November, 2007
鈥淐itizenship, Servant Laws, and the Negotiation of Labor Relations in the Local Courts of Northwestern Mexico, 1800-1850.鈥� Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era, 1750 鈥� 1850, Atlanta, GA, March, 2006
鈥淎n Unbearable Existence: Rural People in Sonora, Mexico, and the Transition to Debt Peonage, 1800-1850鈥� Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association, Philadelphia, PA, January, 2006
鈥淩espect and Veneration for Elders by All Laws Divine, Positive, and Natural: Intergenerational Relationships in Sonora, Mexico, 1800-1850.鈥� Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies and Pacific Coast Latin American Studies, Tucson, AZ, March 2005
鈥淎dultery and the Double Standard: An Analysis of Marital Disputes in Sonora, Mexico, 1820-1850.鈥� Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies and Pacific Coast Latin American Studies, Phoenix, AZ, February, 2003
鈥淟os procesos de rapto y estupro en el juzgado penal de Hermosillo, 1820-1840.鈥� Paper presented at El Seminario del siglo XIX, Hermosillo, Sonora Mexico, March 2002
鈥淐urbing Carnal Passions: The Case of Juan Pasqual and the Regulation of Sexuality and Patriarchal Authority in Northern New Spain, 1760-1821.鈥� Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies and Pacific Coast Latin American Studies, Tucson, AZ, March, 2001
Course Information
Colonial Latin America
Modern Latin America
Environmental History of Latin America
History of Modern Mexico
History of Gender and Sexuality in Latin America
The History of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
Grants & Awards
- 2020 Helen Delpar Award, best article published in The Latin Americanist in 2019
- Teagle Foundation, with Jeffrey Nesteruk and Timothy Sipe, in collaboration with The University of Pennsylvania and Bucknell University, 2016-2018
- Franklin and 四虎影院, Faculty Research Grant, 2015
- Georgia Southern University, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Seed Grant, Spring and Summer, 2011.
- Georgia Southern University, First Year Experience Grant, Summer and Fall, 2009
- Georgia Southern University, Center for Excellence in Teaching, Summer Awards, Summer, 2008
- Georgia Southern University Writing Center Award, Most Creative Student Writing Assignment, Fall, 2006
- Georgia Southern University NEH Summer Grants Candidate, Campus Nominee, 2005
- Fulbright-Garc铆a Robles Fellowship, 2001-2002
- University of Arizona Rockfellow Scholarship, 1999-2000