Christine Hatzky

Christine Hatzky is Professor of the History of Latin America and the Caribbean at Leibniz University Hannover, Faculty of Philosophy, Historical Seminar, and serves as Dean of Research of the Faculty since 2021. She is founding spokesperson of the interdisciplinary M.A. programme Atlantic Studies in History, Culture and Society and directs the university’s Centre for Atlantic and Global Studies. Since 2019 she leads a CALAS sub-project on Visions of Peace in Latin America and previously co-directed the EU Horizon 2020 project ConnectCaribbean. Her research integrates Atlantic, global and trans-regional perspectives with gender and oral history to analyse decolonization, violence and peace processes in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Education & Career

• 1990–1997: Studies in Iberian and Latin American History, Romance Studies, Medieval and Modern History, University of Cologne & Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
• 1997: M.A., University of Cologne
• 2003: Ph.D. in Modern History, University of Hanover – dissertation on Julio Antonio Mella
• 2010: Habilitation, University of Duisburg-Essen – thesis on Cubans in Angola
• 2010–present: Professor, Leibniz University Hannover

Research Focus

Hatzky’s work centres on the decolonization of Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean, analysing violence, conflicts and peace processes through trans-regional and global lenses. She investigates transnational solidarity networks during the Cold War, revolutions in Europe and the Americas, and the global history of science and knowledge transfer. Methodologically she combines oral history, biographical research and gender perspectives to illuminate entangled histories of the Global South.

Awards & Recognition

• 2016: Luciano Tomassini Book Award, Latin American Studies Association
• 2013: Geisteswissenschaften International Award for Cubans in Angola
• 2011, 2004, 1999: Printing-cost and doctoral scholarships from DFG, VG Wort, Heinrich Böll Foundation

Doctoral Supervision & Projects

She currently supervises six ongoing PhD projects on topics ranging from Afro-descendant women in Colombia to Turkish-Syrian-Lebanese migration in Argentina. Eight further dissertations have been successfully completed under her guidance, exploring Central American peace processes, German solidarity movements, Cuban-African networks and urbanisation in Brazil.

Laboratories & Networks

Hatzky co-directs the CALAS/Merian Regional Center Centroamérica y Caribe (with Universidad de Costa Rica) and leads the CEAGS research hub, hosting more than 50 visiting scholars from Latin America and the Caribbean over the past five years.