Mary Roldán

Ph.D., Harvard University

Mary Roldán holds the Dorothy Epstein Chair in Latin American History at Hunter College and a faculty appointment in Latin American history at the Graduate Center, (CUNY). She received her BA, MA and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University in Latin American history, specializing in twentieth century Colombian social and political history. Her research, writing and teaching interests include: violence, state formation, peace studies, urban history, drug trafficking, and the relationship between media (radio), culture, and public opinion. She serves on the editorial boards of the Latin American Research Review (LARR), Historia Critica (UAndes, Bogotá) and Estudios Sociales (UNacional, Bogotá). She has consulted, screened or worked with a variety government, non-governmental, and cultural institutions including the U.S. Institute of Peace, Social Science Research Council, National Public Radio, Radio Nacional de Colombia, COLCIENCIAS, Banco de la República, and Planeación Nacional (Colombia). Most recently (2013-2014), her research and publications have been adopted as the basis for the historical reconstruction of twentieth century violence in Antioquia, Colombia for the Museo Casa de la Memoria in Medellín, the first museum in Colombia devoted to the memory of the victims of twentieth century violence. Her book A Sangre y Fuego (Bogotá: ICANH, Banco de la República, 2003) won the 2003 Fundación Alejandro Angel Escobar National Social Science and Humanities book prize and was recently named (Arcadia, June 2014) one of the essential books for understanding Colombia’s ongoing conflict. Prof. Roldán has been a recipient of Fulbright, COLCIENCIAS (Colombia), MacArthur Peace Studies, Society for the Humanities (Cornell University), and the Robert and Helen Appel (Cornell University) awards and grants. She is a Roosevelt House Faculty Associate and teaches in the Thomas Hunter Honors Program as well as the History Departments at Hunter and the Graduate Center. She is currently at work on two monographs, Broadcast Nation: Radio, Culture and Politics in Colombia and Acción Cultural Popular: Radio, Development and Catholic Transnationalism in Colombia.