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Adolfo Polo y La Borda
Teaching Associate in Early Modern History, Faculty of Arts
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Biography
I am a historian of the Spanish Empire and early modern globalisation. I was born a raised in Cusco, in the heart of the Peruvian Andes, and received my BA and MA in history from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. I got my PhD in History from the University of Maryland, College Park (USA). Before coming to Nottingham in 2023, I taught at the Universidad de los Anges (Bogota, Colombia) from 2019-2022 and at the University of Tübingen (Germany).
Expertise Summary
My academic interest centres on the, often hidden and underestimated, early modern global exchanges and interconnections and the bumpy developments of empires. My research has focused on the political culture of the global Spanish Empire during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. My forthcoming book, Global Servants of the Spanish King. Mobility and Cosmopolitanism in the Early Modern Spanish Empire (Cambridge University Express, expected 2024), studies the worldwide mobility of the lower echelon of Spanish imperial officialdom and the development, and limits, of cosmopolitan ideas and practices.
Teaching Summary
I am convinced of the liberating power of education. One of the most effective ways to promote inclusion is to diversify our understanding and study of History. My personal trajectory of teaching… read more
Selected Publications
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2021. Between America and the Maghrib: The Marquis of Varinas and the Weapons of the Exile. In: ZWIERLEIN, CORNEL, ed., The Power of the Dispersed. Early Modern Global Travelers beyond Integration Brill. 333-361
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2019. Don Mauro's Letters: The Marquis of Villagarcia and the Imperial Networks of Patronage in Spain AMERICAS. 76(4), 555-583
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2019. La experiencia del imperio. Méritos y saber de los oficiales imperiales españoles Historia Crítica. 65-93
I am convinced of the liberating power of education. One of the most effective ways to promote inclusion is to diversify our understanding and study of History. My personal trajectory of teaching across borders has reinforced my conviction in the importance of thinking beyond frontiers and looking at the bigger picture, while attending to diversity and the peculiar contexts in which social actors appeared and performed.
In addition to convening the first-year module "Themes in Early Modern History", I will teach the second-year option "The Early Modern Global Spanish Empire (1450-1850).
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2022. Los orígenes del corrregidor del Cusco y el establecimiento de la soberanía del Rey. Una perspectiva atlántica. In: MORONG, GERMÁN and GLOËL, MATTHIAS, eds., Gobernar el virreinato del Perú, S. XVI-XVII praxis político-jurisdiccional, redes de poder y usos de la información oficial Sindéresis ; CEH-UBO ediciones. 305-331
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2021. Between America and the Maghrib: The Marquis of Varinas and the Weapons of the Exile. In: ZWIERLEIN, CORNEL, ed., The Power of the Dispersed. Early Modern Global Travelers beyond Integration Brill. 333-361
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2021. Los Países Bajos, la Monarquía Hispánica y Europa en los siglos XVI y XVII. In: LAURENT, MURIEL, ed., El sello de Amberes: libros flamencos en Santafé, siglos XVI y XVII Universidad del Rosario, Universidad de los Andes. 1-15
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2019. Don Mauro's Letters: The Marquis of Villagarcia and the Imperial Networks of Patronage in Spain AMERICAS. 76(4), 555-583
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2019. La experiencia del imperio. Méritos y saber de los oficiales imperiales españoles Historia Crítica. 65-93
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2016. Rethinking the Spanish Imperial Archives: Dissertation Reviews Dissertation Reviews.
POLO Y LA BORDA, ADOLFO, 2007. Identidad y poder en los conflictos por las preeminencias en el siglo XVII: Histórica Histórica. 31(2), 7-42