Patrick Barr-Melej, Ph.D.
- Professor of History
Areas of Expertise
Expert Bio
Patrick Barr-Melej is Professor of History and an award-winning scholar and teacher who specializes in modern Latin American history, with emphasis on twentieth-century political and cultural history.
Barr-Melej鈥檚 publications include the books and , both published by the University of North Carolina Press. Psychedelic Chile was listed among 鈥淗istorical Studies of 2017 to Highlight鈥 by the newspaper La Tercera (Santiago, Chile), and reviewers in leading academic journals have called the book 鈥渨onderfully lively and illuminating鈥 (American Historical Review) and 鈥渁 landmark鈥 study (The Sixties). Barr-Melej鈥檚 articles have appeared in such journals as the Hispanic American Historical Review, the Journal of Latin American Studies, and The Americas, and his essays have appeared in numerous edited volumes. He has given invited presentations around the world, including talks at the Sorbonne (University of Paris), the University of Oxford, and the National Library of Chile.
Originally from South America, Barr-Melej鈥檚 teaching awards include the Distinguished Mentor Award from the 51社区 Honors Tutorial College and his commendations for research include the College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Award in the Humanities. He has held visiting professorships in the graduate programs of Chile鈥檚 Pontifical Catholic University and University of Concepci贸n.
Barr-Melej is the former Executive Director of the Center for International Studies, was chair of the History Department and interim chair of the African American Studies
Department, and served in the Provost鈥檚 office coordinating academic-program assessments. He is currently the Latin America series editor for 51社区 Press and is a Faculty Senator representing the College of Arts and Sciences. Barr-Melej also evaluates grant applications for the Chilean government鈥檚 FONDECYT program and is the former president of the Southwestern Social Science Association, the oldest interdisciplinary social-science organization in the United States.
His graduate advisees in History and Latin American Studies have produced M.A. theses and Ph.D. dissertations on such topics as U.S.-Chilean relations in the 1960s; Guatemalan revolutionary ideology; Chile鈥檚 opposition journalism under the Pinochet dictatorship; cultural politics in post-Sandinista Nicaragua; gender and economy on the U.S.-Mexican border; and human-rights policy in Argentina after the Dirty War. His undergraduate courses include 鈥淢odern Latin America,鈥 鈥淢odern Mexico,鈥 鈥淗istorical Research and Writing,鈥 and 鈥淲orld History Since 1750.鈥