Leandro Benmergui

My scholarly work explores the social and cultural history of urban renewal and housing programs in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro during the Cold War. My research interests focus on the urban social and cultural history of Latin America, approached from multidisciplinary and transnational perspectives. I am the co-editor of Problems in Modern Latin American History, 6th edition (manuscript in preparation), and I am currently working on a book examining the transnational history of housing and poverty, framed within a multidisciplinary approach that includes social and cultural history, architecture, urban planning, and the history of sociology.

I hold a BA from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a PhD in history from the University of Maryland.

At Purchase, I am an Associate Professor of History, chair of the Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies, and am the director of Casa Purchase, An Outreach Center for Latin American Studies. I also co-direct VOCES: Oral Histories and Spanish for Heritage Speakers, a program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Additionally, I serve as the book review editor for Latin America for Planning Perspectives and am the producer and host of the podcast Pensamiento Urbano: O Podcast da História da Cidade Latinoamericana.