R. A. Kashanipour

Ryan Amir Kashanipour (he/él) is an interdisciplinary scholar of medicine and science in Latin America and the early modern Atlantic world.  He holds a Ph.D. in History and Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Arizona. His research examines the intersections of experience and epistemology in the production of knowledge and institutions of colonial authority related to disease, health, and the body. His first book, Between Magic and Medicine: Colonial Yucatec Healing in the Spanish Atlantic World, in development with the Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture, explores the formation of robust indigenous Maya and inter-ethnic social and intellectual networks of sickness and healing during the recurring epidemic and ecological crises of colonial Yucatán.  His research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Kluge Center at Library of Congress, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Mellon Foundation, National Endowment from the Humanities, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. He is editor of several book series related to the interdisciplinary study of colonial Latin America and the early Americas, including “New Colonial Histories of Latin America” with Routledge Press.

He also has particular research and teaching interests in food history and co-edits The Recipes Project, an interdisciplinary forum dedicated to historical recipes of all sorts, medical, magical, and culinary. Dr. Kashanipour regularly teaches courses that highlight the culinary cultures in Mesoamerica and global exchanges of plants, medicines, and foods in the early modern period. He has special interests in chocolate, honey, and the indigenous beverages of Mexico and Mesoámerica.