Dr. Miruna Achim holds a B.A. in History of Art from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies from Yale University. She is a Full-Time Professor in the Department of Humanities at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Cuajimalpa Campus, Mexico.

Her research focuses on the history of museums and collecting, as well as the history of science and medicine. Her theoretical approach is grounded in the study of the material cultures of science, with particular emphasis on materiality, substances, and the practices through which scientific knowledge is produced, as well as the processes by which alternative forms of knowledge are obscured or marginalized.

Her current research project examines the geographical, conceptual, and commercial trajectories of Mesoamerican jade from the sixteenth through the twenty-first century. It pays particular attention to the social, cultural, and environmental consequences of the extraction, circulation, and reinterpretation of jade artifacts and jade minerals in Mexico and Central America.

Among her most significant publications are Museum Matters: The Making and Unmaking of Mexico’s National Collections (co-edited with Susan Deans-Smith and Sandra Rozental, University of Arizona Press, 2021; Spanish edition: Objetos en tránsito, objetos en disputa, UAM-Cuajimalpa, 2023); From Idols to Antiquity: Forging the National Museum of Mexico (University of Nebraska Press, 2017; Spanish edition: Ídolos y antigüedades. La formación del Museo Nacional de México, INAH, 2021); Piedra, papel y tijera: Instrumentos en las ciencias en México (co-edited with Laura Cházaro and Nuria Valverde, UAM-Cuajimalpa, 2018); Museos al detalle. Colecciones, antigüedades e historia natural (co-edited with Irina Podgorny, Prohistoria, 2013); and Lagartijas medicinales. Debates médicos en la Ilustración novohispana (UAM–Conaculta, 2007).

Her scholarly work also includes numerous articles and book chapters published by leading academic presses and journals. Notable publications include “Mexican Antiquities on the Move: The Making of an Archaeological Category” in the Handbook of the History of Archaeology (Oxford University Press, 2024); “Carving an Origin for Mexico’s Ancient Cultures: Jade Artifacts and the Question of their Provenience” (Centaurus, 2023); “Pas encore classiques: The Making of American Antiquities” (co-authored with Stefanie Gänger, Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 2022); “Air in a Flask: The Mexican Making of Humboldt’s Objects of Knowledge” (co-authored with Gabriela Goldin Marcovich), published in The Invention of Humboldt (Routledge, 2022); as well as several studies addressing authenticity, forgery, scientific collections, and cultural heritage.

Through her scholarship, Dr. Achim has made significant contributions to the study of museum history, collecting practices, the circulation of scientific knowledge, and material culture in Latin America, establishing herself as one of the leading scholars in these fields.