Dr. Arturo Luna Loranca

Dr. Arturo Luna Loranca is an Assistant Professor of History at Hampton University. He obtained his B.A. in Latin American and Latino Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Emory University. In 2024, he conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at El Colegio de Michoacán, A.C. He has taught at private and public universities in the U.S. and Mexico, including Hampton University, the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Emory University, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

His areas of expertise are Colonial Latin American History, Colonial Mexican History, Animal History, History of Health, Labor History, Urban History, and the History of Commodities.
Some of Dr. Luna Loranca’s publications include “Beating a Dog to Death: Resource Management, Food Scarcity, and Mexico City’s Canine Massacres During the Enlightenment, 1790-1821” (Colonial Latin American Review; 2025), “From the Republic of Letters to the Republic of Beasts: The Diario Económico de México as a source for studying human-animal relationships in the quotidian life of Colonial Mexico City” (Historia Ambiental Latinoamericana y Caribeña; 2024), “Lives Made from Detritus: The Commercialization of Canine Excreta by the Plebian Groups During Mexico City’s Massacres of Vagabond Dogs, 1779-1821” (Histórica; 2022), and “El antropófago en casa: la Ilustración en Ciudad de México y las matanzas de perros vagabundos, 1790-1820” in Sobre España en el largo siglo XVIII (Trea; 2022).

Besides his role as a professor at Hampton University, Dr. Luna Loranca is also an associate editor for Sloth: A Journal of Emerging Voices in Human-Animal Studies and currently serves in the Army Reserves.
At Hampton, Dr. Luna Loranca teaches World Civilization II, Early U.S. History, American Social History, U.S. Military History, Latin American History, Comparative History, and Historiography.