Eric Van Young

Eric Van Young (1946–2024) was a distinguished American historian specialized in the history of Mexico during the colonial period and the 19th century. He studied at the University of Chicago, where he earned his bachelor's degree, and then completed his master's and doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley. His academic career mainly unfolded at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he was a distinguished professor and held positions such as chair of the History Department and interim dean of Arts and Humanities.

Van Young is recognized for his pioneering studies on rural history, agrarian economy, peasant movements, and political violence in Mexico. His most influential work is The Other Rebellion: Popular Violence, Ideology, and the Struggle for Mexican Independence, 1810–1821 (2001), which rethinks the role of popular sectors in Mexico's independence. He also wrote Hacienda and Market in Eighteenth-Century Mexico and Writing Mexican History, among other relevant titles.

He received numerous accolades, such as the Bolton-Johnson Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was a corresponding member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the Mexican Academy of History. His legacy endures as a key reference in Mexican and Latin American historiography.

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