Katz, Mariana

Mariana is a PhD candidate. Her dissertation explores the relationship between state formation and regimes of unfree labor in postcolonial Latin America, with a focus on nineteenth-century Paraguay. Her research, funded by the Social Science Research Council, lies at the intersection of the history of popular politics, the social history of labor, comparative slavery studies, and state making.

Prior to coming to Columbia, Mariana studied history at the University of Buenos Aires, in Argentina, and conducted research on the history of workers and artisans in nineteenth-century Buenos Aires. She has been involved in different public history initiatives. For two years, she worked as researcher and exhibition curator at the Museo Nacional del Cabildo. She also co-created the website and podcast series The Sounds of Calibán: A History of Latin America through Music (funded by the Cultural Sponsorship Program of the city of Buenos Aires and the History Department at Columbia, respectively).

Publications

“Los artesanos proteccionistas. Buenos Aires, primera mitad del siglo XIX.” Economía y Política 4, no. 2 (2017): 5–36.
https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6266423

 “Artesanos hispanoamericanos del siglo XIX: identidades, organizaciones y acción politica” with Gabriel Di Meglio and Tomás Guzmán. Almanack, no. 23 (December 2019): 275–315. https://doi.org/10.1590/2236-463320192310.

Experience

Mariana has worked as Teaching Assistant for the following courses in the History Department at Columbia:

• Latin American Civilization II (spring 2021, Prof. José Moya)
• Reproducing Inequalities. Families in Latin America (fall 2020, Prof. Nara Milanich)
• Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Latin America (spring 2020, Prof. Nara Milanich)
• History of the City in Latin America (fall 2019, Prof. Amy Chazkel)

During her graduate career, she has also participated as Graduate Student Coordinator of a Research Initiative on Country Conditions, organizing a group of 20 undergraduate students conducting research for organizations of asylum seekers under the supervision of Professor Nara Milanich (summer 2020). In addition, she has been graduate student organizer of the New York City Latin American History Workshop and the Columbia Latin American History Workshop, and rapporteur of the University Seminar on Latin America.