Kevin P. Coleman

Biography:

Kevin Coleman’s research and teaching focus on the histories of capitalism, photography, and Catholicism in twentieth-century Latin America. He is the writer and director of Stolen Photo, a documentary film coproduced by Señal Colombia and supported by the National Film Board of Canada. He is also the author of A Camera in the Garden of Eden: The Self-Forging of a Banana Republic (University of Texas Press, 2016), translated into Spanish as Sabían que estaban haciendo historia (Guaymuras, 2019). He is co-editor of Capitalism and the Camera (Verso, 2021), translated into Chinese, 資本主義與相機──論攝影及榨取 [2024], and Coups d’état in Cold War Latin America, 1964-1982 (Cambridge University Press, 2024). His articles have been published in leading journals, including the Hispanic American Historical Review, the Radical History Review, and Photography and Culture. His research has been funded by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fulbright-Hayes, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. His research and teaching have been awarded prizes from the American Historical Association and the Canadian Historical Association.

Education:

PhD, Indiana University, Bloomington

MA, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

BA, Northern Arizona University

Publications
Books:

• A Camera in the Garden of Eden: The Self-Forging of the Banana Republic (University of Texas Press, 2016).
• Sabían que estaban haciendo historia: La Huelga de 1954 en las fotos de Rafael Platero Paz (Guaymuras, 2019).
• Coups d’état in Cold War Latin America, 1964-1982 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025). Edited with Sebastián Carassai.
• Capitalism and the Camera (New York: Verso, 2021). Edited with Daniel James.
• 資本主義與相機──論攝影及榨取 (Voices of Photography, 2024)
• Capitalism and the Limits of Photography. A special issue of Photography and Culture. 13.3 (August 2020). Edited with Daniel James.
• Photography and Work. A special issue of the Radical History Review. 132 (October 2018). Edited with Daniel James and Jayeeta Sharma.

Documentary Film and Digital Humanities:

• Stolen Photo (Foto robada). 54 minutes, 2024. Written and directed by Kevin Coleman. Coproduced by Señal Colombia/RTVC.
• Visualizing the Americas.

Edited Volumes:

• Capitalism and the Camera. (New York: Verso, 2021) Edited with Daniel James.
• Photography and Culture, 13.2 (June 2020) Edited with Daniel James.
• Radical History Review, 132 (October 2018) Edited with Daniel James and Jayeeta Sharma.

Selected Awards, Grants, and Fellowships:

• Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Connection Grant, 2016. Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Insight Grant, 2014-2019.
• Connaught New Researcher Award, University of Toronto, 2014-2015.
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Institutional Grant, 2013 – 2015.
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation / American Council of Learned Societies Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2011-2012.
• Future Faculty Teaching Fellowship, Indiana University, 2010-2011.
• Bernardo Mendel Fellowship, Indiana University, 2010.                                             
• Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship (DDRA). Honduras. United States Department of Education, 2008-2009.
• Shriver Practical Idealist Award, 2009.
• John H. Edwards Fellowship, Indiana University, 2008.
• Samuel F. Bemis Research Grant, The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), 2008.

Research Interests:

• Modern Latin American History
• Visual Culture
• History of Capitalism
• U.S.-Latin American Relations

Undergraduate Courses:

• Introduction to Latin American History
• Politics and Political Change in Latin America
• Religion and Society in Latin America
• History of Capitalism

Graduate Courses:

• Images as History: Photography
• Historical Method
• Conceptualizing Visuality

Related Link:

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