Rate My Professor Luz Huertas Castillo

Luz Huertas Castillo is a History professor at Northern Virginia Community College specializing in Latin American history, with a focus on the history of policing, crime, criminality, and social control in the Andean region. She earned her PhD and MA from Texas Christian University and her BA from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, providing her with a robust foundation in both North American academic methodologies and Peruvian historical contexts. Her research examines the cultural and socio-political dimensions of police-state relationships, urban surveillance, and community-based monitoring practices, particularly in late 19th and early 20th century Lima.

In her academic career, Luz Huertas Castillo has served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and History at Fairleigh Dickinson University since 2015, where she coordinates the Latin American Studies program, mentors internships, and contributes to the Social Sciences and History Learning Community and Honors Academy. She co-edited the book Voices of Crime: Constructing and Contesting Social Control in Modern Latin America (2016) and authored chapters such as 'Imagining Criminality: Race, Identity, and Crime in Peru, 1890-1930.' Other key publications include 'Agentes del Orden: Redes Sociales y Vigilancia Urbana en Lima, 1890-1900' (Diálogo Andino, 2019), 'La pedagogía de la imagen: orden y castigo en las tablas de Sarhua' (Perspectivas Latinoamericanas, 2013), 'La Familia en Huarochirí' (2009), and 'El Infierno del Tawa Ñawi' (Cuadernos Interculturales, 2007). She regularly presents her research at international conferences, enriching scholarly discourse on criminological theories and justice systems in Latin America. Her teaching portfolio encompasses Pre-Columbian Americas, Colonial Latin America, Modern Latin America, Dictatorship in Latin America, Crime and Punishment in Latin America, Indigenous Peoples in Latin America, Gender and Race in Latin America, Latin American History in Film, World History II, and Atlantic Worlds, demonstrating her broad expertise and commitment to the field.