Juan José Ponce-Vázquez
Ph.D. Candidate (ABD)
jponce@sas.upenn.edu
Education
B.A., Universidad de Sevilla, Spain (2002); M.A., University of Pennsylvania (2006)
Fields
Colonial Latin American History; Plantation Economies in North America and the Caribbean; Early Modern Spain
Research Interests
Caribbean societies in the 17th century, contraband, slavery, gender
Dissertation Committee
Personal Statement
My dissertation focuses on the challenges that the Spanish colony of Hispaniola faced during the seventeenth century (1580s-1690s), as seen through the eyes of its Creole elite. I look at aspects such as the economic foundations of these elites, their social and political networks, their integration in the local government, and their relationship with Madrid as well as the peninsular authorities of the island. By framing the study in this long period, I seek to highlight how this group adapted to the transfomation of both the Spanish empire and the Caribbean world during this period. Particularly, I pay close attention at factors such as the island's progressive alienation from the Iberian peninsula, the creation of alternative regional networks of trade, the effects of the internationalization of the Caribbean waters, and the long (and eventually unsucessful) struggle of the colonial authorities to preserve the territorial integrity of the island against French encroachment.
