Rate My Professor Peter Szok

Peter Szok is a professor of history at Texas Christian University, affiliated with the Latin American History program. He holds a Ph.D. in History from Tulane University (1998), an M.A. from Tulane University (1994), and a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University (1990). His research specializations encompass modern Central America, Afro-Latin American studies, and indigenous visual culture, with a particular emphasis on popular art, ethnicity, nationalism, and cultural re-Africanization in Panama. Szok teaches a range of courses including HIST 10933 Latin American History: National Period, HIST 30903 Indigenous Movements in Latin America, HIST 30913 History of Central America, HIST 41913 Afro-Latin America, and HIST 49903 History Major Seminar: Modern Latin America. His work bridges academic scholarship and public engagement, contributing to digital archives and interdisciplinary dialogues on Latin American cultural history.

Szok has published several key books that illuminate the interplay of art, politics, and identity in Panama and beyond. These include Insurgent Beauty: Indigenous Art in Urban Panama (University Press of Mississippi, 2025), Restaurantes, rumba y más: Gringo’s Guide to Latino Fort Worth (TCU Press, 2014), Wolf Tracks: Popular Art and Re-Africanization in Twentieth-Century Panama (University Press of Mississippi, 2012), and La última gaviota: Liberalism and Nostalgia in Early Twentieth-Century Panama (Greenwood, 2001). He also developed the Náñez-Woodward Collection of Panamanian Popular Art (2022), comprising 1000 digitized photographs housed in the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries Digital Library of the Caribbean. His scholarly impact is evidenced by major awards and fellowships, such as Fulbright grants (2008, 2015-17), Fulbright-Hays awards (1993, 2002), the Parsons Award from the U.S. Library of Congress (2017), the University of Florida Latin American Studies Research Award (2016), AddRan Distinguished Lecture (2012), and AM Pate, Jr. Research Professorships (2014-15, 2025-26).