LLILAS Professor Elected to Mexican History Academy
- Sep 24, 2026
[Editor's Note: This story is part of a Texas Global series celebrating UT Austin faculty members whose work has received international honors or awards.]
Matthew Butler, professor of history at The University of Texas at Austin, has been elected to the Academia Mexicana de la Historia, a prestigious association of scholars dedicated to strengthening and disseminating the study of Mexican history.
"It’s a great accolade to be elected to the Academia Mexicana de la Historia as an international corresponding member ... to draw on UT Austin’s strong tradition of Mexicanist scholarship and collaborate with the Academia in promoting Mexican history," Butler said.
Butler serves as the editor of "Mexican Studies/ Estudios Mexicanos," a bilingual scholarly and interdisciplinary journal published by the University of California whose publication is supported by the College of Liberal Arts’ Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS).
The focus of Butler’s research is the history of Catholicism in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, as well as rural and Indigenous history. He is the author of “Mexico’s Spiritual Reconquest: Indigenous Catholics and Father Pérez’s Revolutionary Church.” He also directed the Hijuelas Project, which created a digitization and research archive on the history of Indigenous communities in 19th-century Michoacán, Mexico.
As an international correspondent of the academy, Professor Butler will deliver an inaugural lecture to members, the text of which will later be published in "Memorias," one of the longest-standing publications on Mexican history.
Butler also assumed leadership of the LLILAS Mexico Center in early September 2026, taking the reins from outgoing chair Celeste González de Bustamante, who relocated to Arizona State University to serve as vice dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
“It is an honor to be asked to lead the LLILAS Mexico Center toward its first half-century!” said Butler. "I will work to strengthen the center’s role as a hub of Mexicanist scholarship across campus for both faculty and students. I also hope the center can continue to grow as an outward-looking entity that promotes dialogue with Mexican institutions and the Mexican academy.”
