Contact Us

My interests and work focus on modern United States 20th Century Social History; United States Gender and Politics; African American History; United States Foreign Affairs; and the intersection of Canadian and U.S. History. My newest class offering is a unique one, entitled 'History of Millennials and Gen Z in the U.S.'

Soul grease ~

Growing up between Vancouver, Canada, Lima, Peru, and Barcelona, Spain, Michael Matthews developed an early childhood interest in how global forces of capitalism articulate themselves in different ways at the local level (although he didn't even know it). He received his doctorate in History from the University of Arizona (a degree signed by the former Secretary of Homeland Security) and he has taught Latin American and World History for over twenty years. He is the author of Sex and Love in Porfirian Mexico City: A Social History of Working-Class Courtship (University of Florida Press, 2025), The Civilizing Machine: A Cultural History of Mexican Railroads, 1876-1910 (University of Nebraska Press, 2014) and the co-editor of Mexico in Verse: A History of Music, Rhyme, and Power (University of Arizona Press, 2015). He has also published multiple essays in English and Spanish. He continues to research the lives of the working class in Porfirian Mexico City. In his free time, Dr. Matthews enjoys cooking and painting and hosts a weekly (and incredibly popular) pub trivia night in Chapel Hill, NC.