Dr. Joshua Jacob Fitzgerald
Colonial Latin American historian, Mesoamericanist, and author
I am the Teaching and Research Fellow in Latin American History at the University of Edinburgh, School of History, Classics and Archaeology. My research centres on Indigenous colonial Latin American history, Nahua ("Aztec") visual and material culture, the history of education in Mexico, and the intersection of cultural heritage with digital humanities and AI.
I completed my PhD in History at the University of Oregon (2019) and held fellowships at the Getty Research Institute, Churchill College, Cambridge, the Cambridge University Library, and the U.S. Library of Congress. I am also a research affiliate for the Hidden in Plain Sight Project with Cambridge University Library and Queen Mary University of London.
New Book
An Unholy Pedagogy: Visions of Learning from Mesoamerica, 1300 to 1650
How did Indigenous Mesoamerican communities envision learning before and after the Spanish conquest? This book uncovers Nahua (commonly "Aztec") traditions of place-based, sensory, and immersive pedagogy, from temple schools to colonial monasteries. Using pictorial manuscripts, Nahuatl-language texts, and archaeological evidence, it reveals how communities resisted, adapted, and transformed educational spaces. The result is a new understanding of how Indigenous peoples negotiated colonial regimes, shaped learning, and preserved local knowledge.
Research Highlights
My work spans five interconnected areas: colonial education and Indigenous learningscapes; Nahua visual and material culture; games, digital media, and cultural heritage; ethnobotany and foodways; and manuscript studies, digital humanities, and AI. I work in archives and collections throughout the U.K., U.S., and Mexico relating to Mexico's material and visual culture.
My publications have focused on Indigenous foodways, warrior women, art and architecture, the art of Mexican board games, and video games about Mexico. I am currently leading the first study of "Aztec Tipp-Ex," Indigenous technologies, erasures, and material interventions in Nahua-colonial manuscripts, as part of the Hidden in Plain Sight Project.