Year in Program: 1st
Fields: Caribbean History, Atlantic World, Dutch Colonialism
Advisor: Dr. David Wheat
Research Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch
Educational Background: M.A., University of Puerto Rico (2017); B.A., University of Puerto Rico (2012)
Email: mirand39@msu.edu
I am a first-year Ph.D. student focusing on the Early Modern Caribbean and the Atlantic World. My interests include Regional History, Religion, Dutch Colonialism, Iberian Colonialism, Historiography, and how to effectively imagine the Caribbean past beyond the cliché of the paradisiacal archipelago, and the popular representation of piracy. I have a B.A. and an M.A. in History from the University of Puerto Rico Recinto de Río Piedras.
My research explores the tensions between the historical interpretations of the Caribbean and the Atlantic World during the settlement of Non-Iberians in the Americas and their clash with Spanish and Portuguese colonies. I am also interested in the imagination of the Caribbean and how the referent of slavery, the Plantation, and colonialism contradicts (yet reinforces) the regional tourism industry.