Marcella Hayes

Marcella Hayes is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison, specializing in the history of the Iberian Atlantic world. Her research examines the legal, political, and social positioning of black slaves and free people of color in seventeenth-century Lima, with particular focus on colonial legal frameworks like the república de indios and república de españoles.

Education:

• BA in History and Spanish, Cornell University (2013)
• PhD program entry (2014), institution unspecified

Research Focus: Hayes investigates how marginalized populations navigated or were excluded from colonial legal structures, analyzing both theoretical frameworks and practical implementations across racial hierarchies in early modern Latin America.

Fellowships & Awards:

• Fulbright-Hays Scholar
• John Carter Brown Library funding recipient
• Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences research support