BIO

Argelia Segovia Liga is a historian of Latin America and Indigenous intellectual traditions, currently serving as Assistant Professor of History at The College of Idaho. Her research centers on nineteenth-century Nahua intellectuals in Mexico City, with broader interests in Indigenous sovereignty, colonial legacies, and the cultural politics of race, gender, and class in Latin America.

She holds a Ph.D. in History from Leiden University (Netherlands), where she completed her dissertation, “The Rupture Generation: Nineteenth-Century Nahua Intellectuals in Mexico City, 1774–1887.” Her work has been recognized with the Obama Dissertation Prize by the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies and an Honorable Mention for the Marco and Celia Maus Prize from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Segovia Liga has taught at Missouri State University, El Colegio de Michoacán, and Ozarks Technical Community College. She has published in peer-reviewed journals, including Ethnohistory, Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, Mexicon, and Estudios de Historia Novohispana. She has co-authored works in public history and translation related to Indigenous and colonial archives.

In addition to her scholarship, she has been actively involved in public-facing historical work, including Spanish-language media outreach and curriculum development for Hispanic-Serving initiatives. She is a member of LASA and RMCLAS, and her ongoing research explores Indigenous legal activism, intellectual networks, and institutional histories in post-independence Mexico.

EDUCATION

Ph.D., History, Leiden University (the Netherlands), 2017

M.A., History, Missouri State University, 2010

B.A., History, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 2008

SCHOLARSHIP & RESEARCH

“Del entusiasmo a la desilusión: Parcialidades y soberanía colectiva en la Ciudad de México a través de los escritos de tres intelectuales indígenas, 1812-1827.” Fronteras de la Historia. Revista del Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia, Vol. 30, Num. 1, enero-junio, 374-397.

“The Colegio de San Gregorio: An Intellectual Refuge for Indigenous Peoples in Mexico City in the Late Eighteenth-Century.” Special Edition for the Journal of Ethnohistory Ethnohistory (2022) 69 (4): 493–509.

“Dos intelectuales nahuas ante la Constitución española de 1812: soberanía popular y participación política indígena en la Ciudad de México en la primera mitad del siglo XIX.” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, 62, (2021): 327-266.

Coauthored with John Chuchiak. “A Preliminary Investigation of the Tira de Tributos de Iztacamaxtitlan (ca. 1590).” Mexicon: Revista sobre estudios mesoamericanos XLII, No. 3 (June 2020): 57, 66–73.

Coauthored with Teri Arias Ortiz. “Historia de la conquista, pérdida y restauración de la Nueva México. Escribiendo la historia oficial de la frontera norte del imperio español de acuerdo con Juan de Villagutierre y Sotomayor, relator del Consejo de Indias, 1706.” Estudios de Historia Novohispana 60: 129-159.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Round Table: Los pueblos indígenas ante la modernidad. El Colegio de México, April 20205, “Los intelectuales nahuas ante la Constitución de 1812.”

Latin American Studies Association Annual Conference, May 2025, “The Burden of King V:” Mexico City Indigenous Peoples and the Effects of the Bourbon Reforms.”

71st Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies, March 2024, “When the City Ceased to Be Ours: Indigenous Parcialidades in Mexico City in 1827”

American Society for Ethnohistory Annual Conference, September 2022, “Closing the Gaps of Injustice: The Junta Protectora de las Clases Menesterosas and the Revival of the Juzgado General de Indios in Independent Mexico, 1864-1867”

Latin American Studies Association Annual Conference, May 2022, Discussant: “Zapotec Agricultural Epistemologies on Digital Media: A Discussion by Community Members.”

Roundtable “Indigenous Intellectuals in the Americas: Today’s Perspectives,” August 2021, El Colegio de Michoacán.

Cámara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies), Mexico, April 2021,“La consumación de la Independencia desde la historia universal del arte y la cultura.”

Annual Rocky Mountain Conference for Latin American Studies, March 2021,“The Roots of Discontent” The People Who Made the Junta Protectora de las Clases Menesterosas, 1865-1867.”

Annual Rocky Mountain Conference for Latin American Studies, April 2019, “Maximilian of Habsburg and his ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ Policies in Mexico during the French Intervention, 1862-1867.”

“The Junta Protectora de las Clases Menesterosas and the Revival of the Juzgado General de Indios in Nineteenth-Century Mexico.”

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Obama Dissertation Prize, Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies, Johannes Gutenberg-Mainz University, Germany, 2018

Honorable Mention Award “Marco and Celia Maus Prize,” National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 2011

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Assistant Professor of History, The College of Idaho (2023–present)
Teaches and develops curriculum on Latin American history, Indigenous movements, colonialism, and race, class, and gender in Mexico.

Research Professor, Centro de Estudios de las Tradiciones, El Colegio de Michoacán (2020–2021)
Conducted advanced research on Indigenous intellectual traditions and mentored graduate students in cultural theory and knowledge systems.

Global Studies Program Coordinator, Missouri State University (2019–2020)
Oversaw programming and curriculum development; advised over 50 students; promoted global and transnational perspectives in undergraduate education.

Awarded the Obama Dissertation Prize (2018)
Received international recognition from the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies for dissertation on Nahua intellectuals in nineteenth-century Mexico.

Published Scholar in Peer-Reviewed Journals
Author of multiple articles in leading academic journals, including Ethnohistory, Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, and Mexicon, with research on Indigenous education, sovereignty, and archives.

Experienced Public Historian and Media Contributor
Delivered Spanish-language historical commentary for KTVB (Boise, ID) on Cinco de Mayo; interviewed on Indigenous intellectual history for “Voz de la Memoria” radio program sponsored by the Autonomous University of Coahuila, Mexico.

Dissertation Advisor and Doctoral Committee Member
Supervised and evaluated graduate theses on Indigenous religiosity, health specialists, and ritual practice at El Colegio de Michoacán and the Autonomous University of Coahuila, Mexico.

Conference Organizer and Participant
Organized international roundtables and regularly presented at major academic meetings, including LASA, RMCLAS, the American Society for Ethnohistory, and the Congreso Internacional de Americanistas. Interdisciplinary and Bilingual Educator
Taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses in both the U.S. and Mexico, including offerings in English and Spanish, with expertise in online pedagogy.