Marcelo Morales is a Ph.D. candidate in Spanish at the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Notre Dame. Born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia, Marcelo moved to the United States at an early age and continued to pursue and further develop his understanding of Spanish as a language and vehicle for understanding his own culture.
Marcelo earned a B.A. in History as well as Spanish with a focus on Cultures and Literatures from the University of Virginia in 2021. The following year, he earned a M.A. in European Studies from the University of Virginia. As a M.A. student, Marcelo produced a master’s thesis titled: “A Woman’s Struggle: The Changing Image of Womanhood on the Republican Side of the Spanish Civil War,” which focused on evaluating female participation in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) as well as understanding how women challenged gender normative standards during the war.
20th century wars and revolutions involving minority populations including but not limited to women, campesinos or people of color. Marcelo is interested in the intersection between gender politics and politics affecting society before, during, and after a major social conflict. He is also interested in how minority populations influence the way a conflict is perceived and how their participation can influence an outcome. Finally, Marcelo is mainly interested in the culture and literature of Spain and Latin America, but is also interested in the greater context and involvement of these two regions with the rest of the world.