Before beginning my studies at Pitt, I earned a Master’s degree in Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University. My master’s thesis focused on the development of the Trelawny Maroon community in eighteenth century Jamaica, and the ways in which they created and sustained autonomy. Prior to my MA, I graduated from the Honors Program at Southeastern Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor’s in History in 2010. Over the last three years, I’ve had the pleasure of working as the Honors Coordinator at my alma mater.
I am currently investigating the maroon communities of colonial Latin America, and I am interested broadly in maroons, runaway slaves, free black and indigenous communities and how these communities navigated spaces of power. I have a specific interest in the communities of early colonial Panamá, and I plan to investigate how these societies formed, how they sustained themselves, and in what ways they used colonial power for their own ends.
Advisor: Molly Warsh