Dr. Ashley Black

20th Century Mexico
Central America
Immigration and Asylum
Latin America
History Pedagogy
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The Caribbean
Transnational History
U.S.- Latin American Relations

HIST 1020: World Civilizations II
HIST 3510: Colonial Latin America
HIST 3520: Modern Latin America
HIST 4500: Modern Mexico
HIST 4510: U.S.-Latin American Relations
HIST 4530: Mexican and Central American Migration
HIST 4540: The Spanish-Aztec War
HIST 4960: Senior Seminar
HIST 5800: History Pedagogy
HIST 5970: Graduate Studies in Latin America

My research examines asylum policy in Mexico during the 1940s and 1950s. I highlight the relationship between the Mexican state and political exiles who sought refuge from dictators throughout Central America and the Caribbean. I use asylum as a lens onto foreign relations and policy-making during a period when the Mexican government was shifting away from its commitment to the revolutionary objectives of previous generations. My work engages with new scholarship on Mexican history—and particularly the study of Mexican foreign relations—that de-centers the country’s relationship to the United States.

In addition to my historical research, I have also stepped into the role of educational game developer and contributor to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Since 2020, I have been collaborating with colleagues at the University of Texas Arlington and Stony Brook University to develop an online historical simulation of the Spanish-Aztec War. I have been gathering data on the effectiveness of different teaching strategies, including the simulation and an innovative testing format that requires students to critique the work of Artificial Intelligence. I am interested in how faculty can use creative assignments to build community, develop historical empathy, and instill confidence in students.

“Canto Libre: Folk Music and Solidarity in the Americas, 1967-1974.” In The Art of Solidarity: Visual and Performative Politics in Cold War Latin America. Edited by Jessica Stites Mor and Maria del Carmen Suescun Pozas, 117-145. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018.

“Of Soldiers and Saints: Gender Constructs, the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, and the Fight against Conscription, 1964-1970.” Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 38, no. 2 (2013): 309-324.

“The ChatGPT Exam: Critiquing Generative AI to Assess Learning,” Teaching History: A Journal of Methods (forthcoming).

“The Mexican Embassy and the Battle Over Asylum in Trujillo’s Dominican Republic, 1946-1954,” The Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (forthcoming).

“Gaming the System: Harnessing the Power of Online Simulations for Student Engagement,” Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Virtual, February 25 2022 (co-presenter and panel organizer)

“Using Games to Facilitate Student Engagement in an Online History Course,” SUNY Conference on Instruction and Technology, Virtual, May 26 2021 (co-presenter)

“Imagining the Nation from Abroad: Transnationalism and Historical Memory after the Guatemalan Spring,” Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, New York NY, January 3rd 2020 (co-organizer)

“Asylum Policy as Foreign Policy in Mid-Century Mexico,” Annual Meeting of the Conference on Latin American History, Chicago IL, January 5th 2019

“Working together for ‘the redemption of mankind’: Mexico, the Americas, and the World in the Post-War Moment,” Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Washington DC, January 7th 2018

“From Chapultepec to Bogotá: Mexico and the Promotion of Human Rights in the Post-War Moment,” Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Council of Latin American Studies, Salt Lake City UT, April 5th, 2017.

“Assassins or Asilados? Anti-Communism and the Politics of Asylum in Cold War Mexico: The Case of Jaime Rosenberg and Rogelio Cruz Wer,” Annual Meeting of the Conference on Latin American History, Atlanta GA, January 10th 2016

“The Language of Song: Folk Music and Solidarity in the Americas, 1967-1971,” Annual Meeting of the Conference on Latin American History, New York NY, January 3rd 2015

“Letters from Exile: Luis Cardoza y Aragón, Juan José Arévalo, and the Story of the U.S. Intervention in Guatemala, 1954-1956,” Workshop on Twentieth Century Exile in Latin America, Cologne Germany, September 5th 2014

“Of Soldiers and Saints: Gender Constructs, the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, and the Fight against Conscription, 1964-1970,” Latin American Studies Association Annual Congress, Chicago IL, May 22nd 2014

“Despierta Joven!: The Puerto Rican Anti-Draft Movement, 1964-1973,” Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies Annual Congress, Kelowna BC, May 2012

• Elizabeth Ann B. Papageorge Faculty Development Award (2024)
• Graduate Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities, and Lettered Social Sciences, Stony Brook University (2017-2018)
• Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2014-2017)
• Research Grant, Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations (2017)
• Research Grant, The Tinker Foundation (2015)
• Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship, Social Science Research Council (2014)