Biography

Jorge Díaz Ceballos graduated in history from the Universidad de Cantabria (Spain) in 2007 and holds an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from New York University (2010). In 2017 he received his PhD from Pablo Olavide University of Seville in the framework of the ERC-funded project ‘An Artery of Empire’.

His dissertation analyzed the relevance of urban foundations in the Isthmus of Panama over the 16th century for the establishment and maintenance of the Spanish Empire. This research, forthcoming in top-tier Spanish academic publisher Marcial Pons, deals with the construction of political spaces while redefining the different ways of creating and maintaining political power in the early modern world.

During his Max Weber Fellowship, Jorge will develop a new research project based on a complex court case that involves the participation of different legal institutions across the Iberian Atlantic and the inclusion of a panoply of voices from peoples of diverse social and ethnic origins. The main objective is testing how the Spanish empire’s pluri-jurisdictional character shaped the resolution of marriage conflicts and how court proceedings reflect the agency of individuals with diverse social backgrounds, particularly women, minors and persons of mixed ancestry.

Jorge has experience teaching early modern and contemporary Spanish and European history at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has also participated in the organization of research seminars and international conferences, in addition, he has wide experience researching in archives and libraries in Spain, the UK, Italy, Colombia and Panamá.