Patricia Harms

B.Th. (Canadian Mennonite), B.A. (Manitoba), M.Div (Princeton Theological), Ph.D. (Arizona State)

Associate Professor

Research Interests:

My research focuses on women and gender in Latin America with a particular emphasis on Guatemala and Central America. I am intrigued by people’s attempts to radically transform their societies and why and when these efforts succeed. I am particularly interested in the role of gender and political power and how these ideas are used to sustain or transform socio-political systems.  I co-directed a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on suffrage in the Americas at Carthage College, Wisconsin in July 2018. I am the Principal Investigator for a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant with the Anisininew people at Island Lake, Manitoba designed to gather the archival materials of the community to begin the creation of a public archive. I am also a member of the Hispanic Association of Manitoba, Inc where we focus on a variety of socio-political activities designed to improve the lives of Spanish speaking immigrants in southwest Manitoba. I am finishing a monograph of collected testimonios from Latin American women migrants in Brandon, Manitoba.

Teaching Interests:

At Brandon University, I teach courses with a geographic focus on the global south. I also teach courses with thematic emphases on imperialism, decolonization, Indigenous histories, revolution and gender.

Recent Publications:

“Reading Between the Lines: Anti-fascism within the Urban Ladina Community,”  Latin American anti-fascist movements edited by Jorge Nallim and Sandra McGee Deutsch (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press, 2024).

“Breaking the Silence: Communism, transnationalism and women in the Alianza Femenina Guatemalteca, 1947-1954,” in a forthcoming book on Communism and Transnationalism in Latin America, co-edited by Margaret Power and Marc Becker (University of Illinois Press, 2022).

“Sharing a Vision of Shalom: MCC Guatemala as a Vehicle of Transformation,” Journal of Mennonite StudiesVolume 40, Number 1, 2022.

Imagining a Place for Themselves: Ladina Social Activism and Feminism in Guatemala City, 1871-1954 (University of New Mexico Press, 2020). Winner of the Judy Ewell Award for Best Publication on Women’s History  from  the Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American Studies 2021 and the 2021 Book Prize from the Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies  2021.

Courses Taught:

• 54:153 World History to 1500
•  36:253 Gender in Transnational Perspectives
•  36:254 Transnationalism and Women’s Lived Experiences
•  54:268 Cultures, Societies and Nations: Non-western World since 1700
•  54:290 Latin America: Pre-Columbian and Colonial Periods
•  54:291 Modern Latin America
• 54:342 Global Migrations, Refugees and Exiles
•  54:359 Women, Gender, and Family in Latin America
•  54:367 Women in Twentieth-Century Revolutions
•  54:373 Indigenous History of Latin America
•  36:373 Masculinities and Men
•  54:375 History of women in the Global South since 1700
• 36:385 Gender and Women’s Studies Practicum
•  54:456 Imperialism, Resistance, and Decolonization, 1800-Present
•  54:457 History of the International Women’s Movement, 1800-Present
• 54/36:458 Gender, War and Peace

• Recent Public Presentations:

“Viviendo en el mundo que imaginamos: los ideales feministas de la Alianza femenina guatemalteca,” Coloquio: Centenario de la liga feminista costarricense y del partido nacional feminista de Panamá, November 1, 2023.

“Leyendo entre lineas: antifascismo dentro de la comunidad ladina en la ciudad de Guatemala, 1930-1945,” IIWorkshop virtual internacional Mujeres entre guerra y paz: mediadoras, intelectuales ya gentes culturales, October 5-6, 2023. 

“Island Lake: Stories from the Written Records,” Treaty5 Summit, Chemawawin, Manitoba, August 8-10, 2023. 

“Escribir a las mujeres en la historia: maestras y periodistas guatemaltecas a mediados del siglo XIX, V Encuentros Mujeres Diversas Entre la Colonia y el Bicentenario de la Independencia en Centroamérica: edición internacional especial, 27 y 28 de Octubre 2021 (zoom)