Jacqueline Ly

“Sovereignty, Possession, and Dispossession in Belize, 1730–1786”

Jacqueline Ly is a Ph.D. Candidate in Latin American History at Yale University. Her dissertation research explores Belize in the eighteenth century, during a time in which it was contested between the British and Spanish Empire. She challenges the traditional binary view of Belize as the product of Anglo-Spanish conflict, and examines politics, settlement, geography, and labor to dismantle corresponding myths about the foundations of early modern European empires in the Americas. Examples drawn from her case studies upend commonly-held beliefs that associate settlerhood with whiteness, Indigeneity with the mainland Americas, and enslavement with Blackness. Her work builds upon scholarship in Latin American, Caribbean, and Atlantic History to restore complexity and wholeness to marginalized peoples and their histories. Jacqueline earned her B.A. from New York University and her M.A./M.Sc. from the Columbia University-LSE dual-degree program in International/World History. In addition to historical research, Jacqueline has worked in editing and education and enjoys finding opportunities to combine all of her professional interests.