The Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University welcomes Dr. Mariana Díaz Chalela as Assistant Professor of International History. Dr. Díaz Chalela is a historian of modern Latin America whose research and teaching focus on economic development, political violence, property rights, and transitional justice.

“We are thrilled to have Mariana Diaz Chalela join the faculty of the Pardee School,” Dean Scott Taylor said.

“Her expertise on land politics, history, and development in Latin America is a perfect fit for Pardee’s interdisciplinary environment. Moreover, as a scholar and teacher of Latin American Studies, she will engage with students and the wider community as they seek to understand this dynamic region. Latin America demands serious scholarly and policy attention, and we are incredibly fortunate to have secured such an outstanding new colleague in Professor Díaz Chalela.”

Dr. Díaz Chalela joins BU with a PhD in History from Yale University and holds both an LLB (JD equivalent) and an MA in History from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. Before becoming a historian, she worked as a lawyer in Colombia, an experience that continues to shape her interdisciplinary approach to scholarship.

Currently, Dr. Díaz Chalela is completing her first book project, which traces the political and social history of agricultural credit in Colombia from the Great Depression through the height of the Cold War. “I have always been interested in how economic development and political violence become intertwined,” she said. Her research connects the histories of international development and foreign debt to everyday rural life in Latin America while examining the regional and global dimensions of economic change.

At the Pardee School, Dr. Díaz Chalela will teach courses including Introduction to Latin American Politics and International Relations, Development and the Environment in Latin America, and U.S.-Latin American Relations. “The most exciting thing about Pardee for me is that it is a unique place that values interdisciplinarity,” she shared. “I am very eager to learn from BU students. The community here is incredibly diverse and global.”

Dr. Díaz Chalela’s research has been supported by the Social Science Research Council, the Tinker Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the John Rovensky Fellowship in Business and Economic History, the George W. Leitner Program in International and Comparative Political Economy, and the MacMillan Center in International and Area Studies. Her dissertation received the Edwin Small Prize in American History at Yale University.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Mariana Díaz Chalela to the Pardee School community!

Mariana Díaz Chalela is Assistant Professor of International History at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. Her research and teaching focus on modern Latin America, economic development, political violence, property rights, and transitional justice. Read more about Mariana Díaz Chalela on her faculty profile.