Mark D. Szuchman
Home Page
Department of History
Florida International University
University Park
Miami, FL 33199
Ph: (305) 348-2328 FAX: (305) 348-3561 e-mail: szuchman@fiu.edu
Education:
Ph.D. in Latin American History, The University
of Texas at Austin, 1976
M.A. in Latin American History, The University of Texas at Austin, 1971
B.A. (w. Honors) in Latin American Studies, Brandeis
University, 1969
Vita (requires Adobe Reader)
Research Interests and Activities
My research fields revolve around the urban and social history of Latin America. My focus region is Argentina, where I have carried out the bulk of my archival research, which has been supported by grants from several granting agencies, including the Social Science Research Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Program, the Doherty Foundation, and FIU, among others.I served as Managing Editor of the Hispanic American Historical Review from 1991 to 1997. The oldest scholarly journal dedicated to the study of Latin America, the HAHR is considered the journal of record and is published by Duke University Press. As the venue for the HAHR's editorial offices, FIU received national and international recognition for the Latin American History component of its Latin American Studies Program.
My publications emphasize the interplay among urban, economic, and political factors and responses by individuals and families over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. My research methods involve the compilation of significant amounts of data, both quantitative and qualitative. I am especially concerned with matters of theory and method in the discussions of urban and family history. I am known to draw from the North American and European experiences to advance debates on the nature of the family in Latin America. In great measure, my comparative frameworks are inspired by Argentina's deep historical connections with Western Europe in so many lasting ways, beginning with intellectual currents and culminating with a population overwhelmingly shaped by the massive immigration from Europe experienced between the 1860s and World War I.
Teaching Interests and Computerization
I teach seminars on the family in Latin America (sample syllabus), citizenshp and governance (sample syllabus), Argentina (sample syllabus), and Historical Methods. My students are encouraged to employ the most effective technologies in intellectually meaningful and practical ways. While they are assured that computerization in history (and scholarship generally) contains its fair share of false promises and confusing objectives, its potential in Latin American history is enormous, as made clear in several electronic clearinghouses for archival documents, or in the vibrant debates taking place in Latin American discussion groups.
My
students work with archival census schedules from around Latin
America, they
learn
to use the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS),
and manipulate population samples. On the qualitative side, both students
and
colleagues are encouraged to exploit the much greater potential of
specialized academic software in their writing and research through
the use of the Nota
Bene suite of applications (Nota
Bene home page). Evaluations of academic software appear in
the Humanities
and Computing Review and in the Journal
of the Association of History and Computing. I have prepared a web
site designed for my students, colleagues and others with helpful
explanations and training for getting the most of Nota Bene: Nota
Bene Help Site.
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