UC Santa CruzDepartment of History
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Marí­a Elena Dí­az

Marí­a Elena Dí­az   
Marí­a Elena Dí­az
    Title:  Associate Professor
    Type:  Faculty Member
    Concentration:  The Americas and Africa
    Email:  mediaz@ucsc.edu
    Phone:  (831) 459-2227 Office
(831) 459-1924 Message
    Office:  540 Humanities 1
    Office Hours:  Fall 2009: TBA

Courses Taught 
HIS-11A-01 - Latin America: Colonial America
HIS-130-01 - History of Modern Cuba
HIS-131-01 - Women in Colonial Latin America
HIS-132-01 - Colonial Caribbean History
HIS-133-01 - Topics in Colonial Latin America
HIS-190A-01 - Slavery and Race in Latin America
HIS-190B-01 - Race and Nation in Latin America
HIS-225-01 - Spanish Colonialism

Research Focus 
Atlantic world, colonial Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba. Her research work is located at the intersections of history and anthropology, global and local history, macro and micro levels. Topics include: slavery and freedom; colonialism; legal, political, popular and religious cultures; social identities; race/ethnicity, gender and class.

Education History 
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

Selected Publications 
The Meaning of Slavery and Freedom in Cuba and Spain During the Age of Revolution: El Cobre in Atlantic Perspective, 1780-1820. [in progress]

Teaching and Research Website: El Cobre, Cuba: Images, Voices, Histories.

"Conjuring Identities: Race, Nativeness, Local Citizenship and Royal Slavery in an Imperial Frontier (Revisiting El Cobre)," in A. Fisher and M. O'Hara, eds. Imperial Subjects: Race and Identity in Colonial Latin America. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009. View PDF here.

"Babylon, Christianity and Republicanism in New World Slave Societies," in Latin American Research Review (LARR), Vol. 42:3, October 2007, View PDF here.

"Mining Women, Royal Slaves: Copper Mining in Colonial Cuba, 1670-1780" in Mercier, Laurie and Viskovatoff, Jaclyn G., eds. Mining Women: Gender in the Development of a Global Industry, 1700-2000. New York: Palgrave, 2006. View PDF here.

"Writing Royal Slaves into Colonial Studies," in Rethinking the Past, Retrieving the Future/Repensando el pasado, recuperando el futuro, Verónica Salles-Reese, ed. Bogota: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. 2005. View PDF here.

"Of Life and Freeedom in the (Tropical) Hearth: El Cobre, 1709-1773" Beyond Bondage: Free Women of Color in the Americas, The New Black Studies Series, D. B. Gaspar and D. Clark, eds. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004

"Beyond Tannenbaum," Law and History Review (LHR), Vol. 22, No. 2, Summer 2004 Read online

"La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre: Rethinking Tradition and Identity." Cuba, the Elusive Nation: Interpretations of National Identity, D. Fernández and M. Cámara, eds. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. View PDF here.

The Virgin, The King, and the Royal Slaves of El Cobre: Negotiating Freedom in Colonial Cuba, 1670-1780. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000. View Preamble here. View Introduction here. American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Humanities E-Book. View here.

"Cultura política y periodismo popular en el México de principios de siglo: La prensa satírica para obreros" in Posada y la prensa ilustrada: signos de modernización y resistencias. México, D.F.: Museo Nacional de Arte, julio-octubre, 1996, pp. 89-101. View selections here.

"The Satirical Penny Press for Workers in Mexico, 1900-1910: A Case in the Politicization of Popular Culture." Journal of Latin American Studies 22 (October 1990), 497-526. View PDF here.