Atlantic World Jewish History Borderlands Oral History

Nancy Katz, Ph.D.

Historian — University of Houston

Atlantic World history; Jewish and Sephardic history; Iberian empires and colonialism; migration and diaspora; religion, memory, and identity; U.S.–Mexico borderlands; oral history and public history.

Summer 2026Ph.D. in History
University of Houston, Houston, Texas

Primary field: Colonial Atlantic World  |  Secondary fields: Jewish History; U.S. History

2021B.A. in History, summa cum laude
University of Houston, Houston, Texas

Minors: Classical Studies, Jewish Studies, and Religious Studies

2018A.A. in History, Highest Honors in Research
Lone Star College, Texas
Instructor, The Human Situation Fall 2026
Honors College, University of Houston
  • Teach in an interdisciplinary humanities sequence emphasizing close reading, historical context, discussion, and analytical writing.
Adjunct Instructor, Department of History Fall 2026
University of Houston
  • Instructor of record for three asynchronous sections of HIST 1301: The United States to 1877.
  • Designed a fifteen-week online course using original lectures, primary-source analysis, weekly historical argument exercises, and scaffolded writing assignments.
Teaching Assistant / Lab Instructor, Department of History Aug. 2020–May 2025
University of Houston
  • Supported HIST 1301 and HIST 1302 in face-to-face and online formats; led discussion sections, delivered lectures, graded coursework, and mentored students.
  • Integrated migration, religion, race, citizenship, and transatlantic context into U.S. history survey instruction.
Katz, Nancy. "Listening for What Was Never Said: Oral History and Crypto-Jewish Memory in the Borderlands." HaLapid (Spring 2026).

The Memory of Being Hidden: Crypto-Jewish Identity in the Twentieth-Century U.S.–Mexico Borderlands

Dissertation advisor: Mark Goldberg

Traces how descendants of Iberian and colonial conversos preserved, reinterpreted, and publicly articulated Jewish memory across the modern U.S.–Mexico borderlands. Drawing on oral histories and archival research in Texas, New Mexico, and California, the project connects twentieth-century identity formation to longer histories of Sephardic diaspora, Atlantic migration, colonial religious regulation, domestic practice, and communal memory.

"Hidden in Plain Sight: Crypto-Jewish Communities and the Negotiation of Identity in the Twentieth-Century Texas–Northern Mexico Borderlands."

Texas A&M University, 2026

"Hidden Voices: Oral History, Identity, and Crypto-Jewish Memory in the Borderlands."

Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies Annual Conference, Los Angeles, 2025

"Crypto-Jewish Space in the Texas Borderlands."

Southern Jewish Historical Society Annual Conference, 2023

"The Crypto-Jewish Memory of Being Hidden."

Western Jewish Studies Association Conference, 2023

David Gitlitz Emerging Scholar Award, Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies 2025
John L. Nau III Ph.D. Fellowship, University of Houston 2025
Research Grant, Texas Jewish Historical Society ($2,500) 2024
Mellon Research Scholars Fellowship ($5,000) 2020
Doctoral Researcher 2021–2026
University of Houston
  • Conducted archival and oral history research on Sephardic diaspora, colonial religious regulation, migration, and community memory across the Atlantic World and U.S.–Mexico borderlands.
  • Designed and conducted consent-based oral histories with community narrators and integrated testimony with institutional, genealogical, and print archives.
  • Worked in repositories and special collections in Texas, New Mexico, and California, including materials documenting the Spanish Atlantic, New Spain, and modern Jewish life in the borderlands.
Graduate Coordinator and Summer Fellow Summer 2022
Cougar Initiative to Engage (CITE), University of Houston
  • Supervised approximately thirty undergraduates completing public history projects; mentored research, writing, oral history, and project development.
  • Developed assessment tools and provided individualized feedback to support student learning and project completion.
Abstract Writer 2021
Center for Public History, University of Houston

Spanish Atlantic and New Spain

Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection; Huntington Library; Gilcrease Museum; University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections

Borderlands and Jewish History

Dolph Briscoe Center for American History; University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research; Fray Angélico Chávez History Library; New Mexico Photo Archives

Atlantic World Colonial Latin America and New Spain Colonial North America Jewish and Sephardic History U.S.–Mexico Borderlands U.S. History to 1877 Oral History and Public History

Course design

Asynchronous online and face-to-face instruction; scaffolded writing; primary-source analysis; discussion and assessment design

Digital pedagogy

Canvas, Blackboard, Perusall, McGraw Hill Connect, and Top Hat

Research methods

Archival research, oral history, community-engaged research, public history, and qualitative analysis

nlkatz@cougarnet.uh.edu

nancy@comkatz.com

(281) 639-0167

Huntsville, Texas