Historifans was founded in 2020 by Danielle Sanchez, Alex Marino, and Catherine Lee Porter. Danielle was preparing to teach a new first year seminar on Star Wars (but it was really about colonialism and armed anti-colonial movements) and asked if anyone was interested in joining a Star Wars/history/pedagogy watch party. Alex and Catherine eagerly volunteered to participate. As the summer progressed, Danielle, Catherine, and Alex realized that their Zoom geek-out sessions could actually become something bigger. They eventually decided to build a site that reflected their pop culture and research interests.
Editorial Team
Since we launched in 2022, Historifans has published an incredibly diverse range of interdisciplinary articles that focus on the intersection of popular culture and historical research (and beyond). In addition to articles based on archival research, Historifans has also published pedagogy pieces, theory-focused articles, and interviews with archivists, actors, and scholars. In fact, the editorial team of Historifans even weighed in on recent kerfuffles regarding the importance of digital humanities within the American Historical Association. In short, Historifans has grown beyond our wildest dreams! We are thrilled to see where the site goes in the future.
Dr. Danielle Sanchez (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Colorado College. Her research focuses on the Second World War in Africa, specifically popular culture, consumption, and social movements in wartime central Africa. She teaches a range of pop culture and history courses, but her favorites are Health and Healing in African History, The Empires Strike Back: From Anti-Colonial Resistance to Star Wars, and Reading Graphic Histories. Her nerdy obsessions: knitting, Star Wars, contemporary romance novels, and the MCU. X: @drdanisanchez
Sam Nystrom-Costales (he/him/his) is a rising History-Philosophy senior at Colorado College. He has been the student assistant for Historifans since 2022. He loves continental philosophy, Latin American colonial history, and border theory. In his free time, you can find him reading a Discworld book, watching the latest Star Wars show, or cheering on his favorite F1 driver, Charles Leclerc.
- Executive Editor: Danielle Sanchez, Assistant Professor, Colorado College
- Editors: Kathryn Tanaka, Associate Professor, University of Hyogo; Nicholas McLeod, Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati; Dustin Cranford, PhD Candidate, University of Maryland
- Editorial Intern: Sam Nystrom-Costales, Colorado College ’25
