Gilbert Joseph, Professor Emeritus of History, Recognized with Career Achievement Award

By Michaela Herrmann

Gilbert Joseph has been awarded the 2024 Distinguished Service Award by the Conference on Latin American History.

Gilbert Joseph, Farnam Professor Emeritus of History

Gilbert Joseph, Farnam Professor Emeritus of History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded the 2024 Distinguished Service Award by the Conference on Latin American History. 

The CLAH unanimously selected Joseph to receive the award thanks to his role as “scholar, professor, institution builder, and mentor.” 

CLAH Co-Executive Director Dr. Erika Denise Edwards said that the award “acknowledges Professor Joseph’s exemplary service to the advancement of Latin American history. As scholar, institution builder, editor, and mentor, Professor Joseph has collaborated to create vibrant communities while setting intellectual agendas.” 

“This award caps off an extremely rewarding career as a scholar, teacher, and mentor for almost thirty years at Yale and sixteen more at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,” Joseph said. “It is particularly meaningful because it recognizes not only my individual academic contributions, but also my joint efforts to promote vital scholarly exchanges across several fields and disciplines.” 

Joseph has published numerous articles and written or co-authored four books: Revolution from Without: Yucatán, Mexico, and the United States, 1880-1924 (Cambridge University Press, 1982); Rediscovering the Past at Mexico’s Periphery (University of Alabama Press, 1986); Summer of Discontent, Seasons of Upheaval: Elite Politics and Rural Insurgency in Yucatán, 1876-1915 (Stanford University Press, 1996); and Mexico’s Once and Future Revolution: Social Upheaval and the Challenge of Rule since the Late Nineteenth Century (Duke, 2013).  He is working on a new project, Transnational Lives in the American Century, which draws upon fieldwork in Peru, Mexico, Central America, and the United States.   

He has also edited 13 volumes, which the CLAH said “brought into conversation cutting-edge research from young and more established scholars.” 

Joseph has played a crucial mentorship role for graduate and undergraduate students alike, having chaired over 60 doctoral theses and sat on the committees of over a hundred others at Yale and beyond. He has also advised undergraduates on at least twenty prize-winning theses, and his advising was recognized in 2002 with the Geoffrey Marshall Faculty Mentoring Award from the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools. 

As part of the award, Joseph has been invited to give a keynote address during a CLAH luncheon at the January meetings of the American Historical Association. 

Joseph reflected on the importance of working alongside others throughout his career. “My time at Yale since 1993 has coincided with exciting partnerships among colleagues, students, and administrators to develop a first-rank program in Latin American Studies, whose Council I was privileged to direct for over a decade and in which I still participate as an emeritus professor.”