AARON P. ALTHOUSE
Select Vitae
EDUCATION:
9/91-1/98 Ph.D. Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Department of History, major field colonial Latin America.
9/88-6/89 M.A. Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Latin American Studies, specialization in econornic development.
9/84-6/88 B.A. with honors. Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Degree granted in History. Awarded James Weter Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Honors Thesis in Department (1988).
DISSERTATION:
'1The Power of Language: Socioethnic Labeling, Social Relations and Identity in the Pa' tzcuaro Region, 1680-1740
This project explores the phenomenon of socioethnic labeling in the Patzcuaro region of Mexico during the seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries. Drawing upon a documentary base of criminal court cases, the study investigates the extent and meaning of socioethnic label use in a tricultural (indigenous, African, and European) setting. The dissertation begins with discussion of the Pa' tzcuaro region, the documentary material, and analysis of socioethnic labeling practices. Later, the work branches into topical discussions of issues that were closely related to an individual1s socioethnic identity, such as residence unit associations, occupation, physical mobility, and cultural and functional literacy. My work fmds that socioethnic labels were meaningful to the region's non-elites, the social distance between socioetnnic groups was determined in large part by how these people were labeled by society, and the sharp contrasts that historians have used to characterize urban and rural non-elites are not substantiated by evidence regarding language acquisition and functional and cultural literacy from the Pa' tzcuaro region.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
1998-present Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN. Tenure-track appointtnent in Latin America history. Teaching duties include surveys and specialized courses on Latin American history, as well as World history survey covering the general period from the first through nineteenth centuries, AD. Also, at request of university honors program, scheduled to teach special honors-only comparative culture seminar on Latin America beginning in the 2000-2001 academic year. Responsible for development of Latin America courses for the university curriculum.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Seminar on Race and Ethnicity in Latin America (UT-Chattanooga, 1998-99) History of Mexico (UT-Chattanooga, 1998-99) Emergence of the Modern World (UT-Chattanooga, 1998-99)
AWARDS:
James B. Weter Dissertation Write-Up Award. Department of History, Stanford University (1996).
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Dissertation Award (1995).
James B. Weter Award. Outstanding undergraduate history honors thesis, Stanford University (1988).
PUBLICATIONS:
"Casta Status and adaptation to the Spanish "norm": Functional and cultural literacy among Patzcuaro region non-elites in the 17th and 18th centuries." (Article in progress)
