Mary Roldán

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, the transnational Catholic Church, rural development projects and the Cold War, and the relationship between media (radio), culture, and public opinion.   She currently serves on the editorial boards of Estudios Sociales (Bogotá, Colombia) and Trashumante, Revista Americana de Historia Social (Medellín, Colombia). 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 (RTVC/Señal Colombia), COLCIENCIAS, Banco de la República, and Planeación Nacional (Colombia).  In 2013-14 her research and publications were 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 Social Science and Humanities National Book Award and has been named one of the essential books for understanding Colombia’s ongoing conflict.  Prof. Roldán has been a recipient of Fulbright-Hays, 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 three research projects: Broadcast Nation: Radio, Culture and Politics in Colombia, 1930-1962, Acción Cultural Popular: Radio, Development and Catholic Transnationalism in Colombia, (1947-1994), and the 3^rd volume of a 5 volume series on Colombian political history from 1780 to 2010, Historias de lo Político en Colombia: Las Tramas de la Nación, 1903-1953, co-edited with Margarita Garrido, Francisco Ortega, and Franz Hensel (Bogotá, Universidad Nacional and Universidad del Rosario, forthcoming in 2026).

• Harvard University (PhD)

• “Cocaína y el “Milagro” de la Modernidad en Medellín/ Cocaine and the “Miracle” of Modernity in Medellín.” Expurgo/Edificio Mónaco, Mauricio Carmona Rivera and Wallace V. Mesuku, eds. (Medellín, Policéfalo Ediciones, Dec. 2021): 151-170.
• “Communication for Change: Radio Sutatenza/Acción Cultural Popular, the Catholic Church, and Rural Development in Colombia During the Cold War.” Itineraries of Expertise: Science, Technology, and the Environment in Latin America’s Long Cold War, Andra B. Chastain and Timothy W. Lorek, eds. (Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh Press, 2020): 114-133.
• “ACPO, Estado, Educación y Desarrollo Rural en Colombia, 1947-1974.” Radio Sutatenza: una revolución en el campo colombiano (1947-1994), Juan Pablo Angarita B., Ayder Berrio Puerta and Jorge Rojas Alvarez, eds. (Bogotá: Banco de la República, May 2017): 33-65.
• Radio Sutatenza: una revolución en el campo colombiano (1947-1994). Angarita B., Berrío P., Rojas A., Restrepo T., Roldán S., y Zabala L., eds. (Bogotá: Banco de la República, 2017)
• "Popular Cultural Action, Catholic Transnationalism, and Development in Colombia before Vatican II" in Stephen J.C. Andes and Julia C. Young, eds., Local Church, Global Church.  Catholic Activism in the Americas before  Vatican II (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2016): 245-274.
• "Acción Cultural Popular (ACPO), "Responsible Procreation", and the Roots of Social Activism in Rural Colombia."  Special Issue: Religion, Social Movements and Zones of Crisis, Latin American Research Review vol. 49, (2014): 27-44.
• "End of Discussion: Violence, Participatory Democracy, and the Limits of Dissent in Colombia." Violent Democracies in Latin America, Desmond Arias and Daniel Goldstein, eds., (Durham: Duke University, 2010):63-83.
• "Radio y cultura nacional: años 30 y 40."  Memorias del Seminario Internacional: Radio Nacional de Colombia agosto 19,20, y 21 de  2009 (Bogotá, Colombia: RTVC, Radio Nacional de Colombia, Banco de la República, 2009): 15-26.
• A Sangre y Fuego: la Violencia en Antioquia, 1946-1953 (Bogotá: Fundación para la Promoción de la Ciencia y la Tecnología /ICANH, 2003); 2003 Winner Fundación Alejandro Angel Escobar Prize in the Social Sciences and Humanities, Bogotá, Colombia.
• Blood and Fire: La Violencia in Antioquia, Colombia, 1946-1953 (Duke University Press, 2002).