Mariana Diaz Chalela

Mariana Diaz Chalela is a Ph.D. candidate in Latin American History at Yale University. Her research interests include the intersection between religion and development during the Cold War, the history of international development, and the role of law in shaping historical change. Her dissertation examines the history of agricultural credit policies in Latin America and its connection to religion and international development. Her research interrogates how notions of ‘community development’ or ‘grassroots development’ created different ways of engaging with Colombian campesinos while exploring how a myriad of religious actors got involved in credit policies and how religious conceptions of credit and debt shaped development policies across Colombia, and its impact in rural lives across the country.

 

Before coming to Yale, Mariana earned her law degree and an M.A. in History at Universidad de los Andes and worked as a lawyer in Colombia. She has research and teaching experience in Latin American history, international law, human rights history, and constitutional law. At Yale, she is a graduate affiliate of the Center for Latin American and Iberian Studies and former co-coordinator of the Latin American Studies Working Group and the Latin American History Speaker Series. Her research at Yale has been generously funded by the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, the Tinker Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council.

 

Prospective students should feel welcome to reach out with any questions about the graduate program in History.