Dr Andrés Bustamante Agudelo

I am a historian of modern Latin America, specializing in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Mexico. I focus on the history of archaeology and the social sciences, Indigenous history, and Mesoamerican art. Prior to arriving at Oxford, I graduated with a BA and PhD in History from Yale University. I also received an MPhil in Archaeology (Heritage & Museum Studies) and History of Art & Architecture from Cambridge University, where I was a Paul Mellon Fellow at Clare College. My research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and Fulbright-García Robles.

Research Interests

My research explores the intertwined histories of archaeology, resource extraction, and sovereignty in modern Mexico. My first book project, "Excavating Mexico: Archaeology and the Making of Subterranean Sovereignty," examines how archaeological excavations shaped one of the defining processes of Mexican state formation: the nationalization of subsoil resources. Excavating Mexico traces the legal and political battles that engulfed both popular and scholarly efforts to unearth ancient artifacts. These contestations transformed archaeological excavations into key testing grounds for the regulatory mechanisms and legal frameworks that extended the state’s power underground.

More broadly, my work investigates the afterlives of the ancient Americas in the modern world. I am curating a forthcoming exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art about the legacies and transformations of Mesoamerican art in nineteenth-century British visual culture.