Rate My Professor Michael Huner

Michael Huner is Associate Professor of History and Chair of the History Department at Grand Valley State University. His research specializations include Modern Latin America, World History in the 19th and 20th centuries, and state formation, with a primary focus on nineteenth-century Paraguay. He examines themes of nationhood, war, religion, suicide, routine violence, and political power during Paraguay's independence era and the War of the Triple Alliance. Huner also contributes to the Latin American & Latino/a Studies program at the university. He earned his Ph.D. in Latin American History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011. His dissertation, titled “Sacred Cause, Divine Republic: Faith, Nation, and War in Nineteenth-Century Paraguay,” forms the basis of his expertise in Paraguayan nationalism and state un-formation.

Huner's key publications demonstrate his impact in the field. His monograph, Parishioners of Sovereignty: A History of Nationhood and War in Nineteenth-Century Paraguay (University of Nebraska Press, 2022), analyzes elite and popular nationalism through the bloodiest interstate conflict in the history of the Americas, the War of the Triple Alliance (1864–70). Other significant works include “How Pedro Quiñonez Lost His Soul: Suicide, Routine Violence, and State (Un-Re)Formation in Nineteenth-Century Paraguay” (Social History, 2019), “Aspirations for Modern Nationhood in Paraguay, 1858-1870” (A Contra Corriente, 2015), and “Farce and Power in Republican Paraguay: Lopez-era Congresses and the Myth of Paraguayan Exceptionalism” (2014). He serves on the editorial board of the Grand Valley Journal of History and has participated in committees such as the Murdo J. Macleod Book Prize for Latin American and Caribbean history. As department chair, he leads faculty and staff, authors departmental newsletters, coordinates the Civic Change Agent Undergraduate Badge program, and has hosted events like the Great Lakes History Conference. His contributions extend to public engagement through lectures and conference organization, enhancing the academic community's understanding of Latin American historical processes.