Stephanie M. Cavanaugh

Stephanie M. Cavanaugh is a Sir John Elliott Junior Research Fellow in Spanish History (1400-1900) at Exeter College, University of Oxford. She holds a B.A. from the University of New Brunswick, and M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Toronto. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Early Modern Conversions project at McGill University (2016-2018). Her research focuses on religious conversion, identity formation, and legal/social differences in early modern Castile, with particular attention to Moriscos (forcibly converted Muslims).

Her current book project, *The Morisco Problem and the Politics of Conversion in Early Modern Spain*, examines Moriscos' legal strategies to resist assimilation policies. A second project, *Descendants of Converts: Race, Religion, and the Moriscos in Early Modern Spain*, explores racialized categories through blood purity debates and legal records. She teaches courses on early modern Spanish colonialism and global empires.

Publications include articles in Renaissance Quarterly and book chapters on Morisco legal agency and gender roles. Her work analyzes court records, petitions, and colonial documents to reveal how marginalized groups navigated religious and racial hierarchies.