Thomas Miller is a doctoral student studying the social and political history of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Central America. His work focuses on the development of Central American liberalism and the processes of popular political participation and nation building in Guatemala during the revolutionary nineteenth century. He is currently developing a dissertation project which investigates the early formation of Mesoamerican borderlands and how the contested border region between Mexico and Guatemala became a central concern in the project of national identity formation while also creating a transnational space for the expression of local and regional community identities by the largely indigenous inhabitants of this newly disputed territory between the two nations. In addition to that project, Thomas has research interests in the comparative history of the liberal nineteenth century in Latin America and the connections between independence and the abolition of slavery in Central America. Thomas is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and did his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin – Madison where he studied History, Spanish, and Latin American Studies. During his free time, he likes to run, go to the beach, and play disc golf.