Meet Richard WEiner

Chair and Professor of History 

Dr. Weiner, who specializes in Latin American history, joined the (I)PFW History Department in 2000; he currently serves as the chairperson of History, a position he has held since 2012. His research examines Mexico, especially intellectual and cultural history, particularly ideas about social and economic development. Another area of his research examines the history of exploration and travel. 

He is the author of Race, Nation, and Market: Economic Culture in Porfirian Mexico (2004); and co-author of El mito de una riqueza proverbial: Ideas, utopías y proyectos económicos en torno a México en los siglos XVIII y XIX (2015), in addition to many book chapters, journal articles, and editor’s introductions, including pieces coauthored with PFW history majors, e.g., “Clashing Views on Modernization and Socioeconomic Rights: Mexican Reception of Frank Tannenbaum’s The Struggle for Peace and Bread” (coauthored with Heather Dewey, 2018) and “Beyond Maximilian’s Empire: French Travelers and Explorers Throughout Nineteenth-Century Mexico” (coauthored with Scott Beamon, 2024). 

He is currently completing a book for the Routledge History of Economic Thought series, entitled A History of Mexican Economic Thought. 

He has worked extensively in journal editing, serving as Associate Editor of Reviews for Enterprise and Society (2013-2018) and Editor-in Chief of Terra Incognitae: The Journal of the Society for the History of Discoveries (2019-2024), positions in which he received substantial support from PFW history majors, who served as his editorial assistants.