I came to history through lived experience and community work, and that path shapes the questions I ask and the people I answer to.

I believe research carries lasting obligations to the communities it studies. Universities have long taken knowledge from Indigenous and working people. My research aims to return that knowledge to the people and places it comes from.

Much of my evidence comes from communities that keep their own histories. I work with local archivists and families who preserve documents their ancestors saved, and I read these collections alongside government archives. Together they let me tell the story from the communities’ side of the page.

I maintain relationships of solidarity with Indigenous organizations in Mexico that continue to defend their land and self-government. They are the authors of their own history, and I hold my work accountable to them.