about mesobre mí

Víctor Manuel Cázares Lira

I am a historian of the Iberian Atlantic world focused on legal culture, visual media, and colonial and postcolonial governance across the Americas.Soy historiador del mundo atlántico ibérico, enfocado en cultura jurídica, medios visuales y gobernanza colonial y postcolonial en las Américas.

My research examines the development of constitutional law, democratic institutions, and political thought in Latin America and the United States. I approach constitutions not as abstract blueprints but as instruments through which societies organize economic life, build states, and wage war.Mi investigación examina el desarrollo del derecho constitucional, las instituciones democráticas y el pensamiento político en América Latina y Estados Unidos. Abordo las constituciones no como planos abstractos, sino como instrumentos mediante los cuales las sociedades organizan la vida económica, construyen estados y hacen la guerra.

By tracing how constitutions intersect with fiscal systems, military structures, and relations with Indigenous peoples, my work offers a comparative account of institutional development that reveals the interconnections shaping the Americas as a single field.Al rastrear cómo las constituciones se intersecan con los sistemas fiscales, las estructuras militares y las relaciones con los pueblos indígenas, mi trabajo ofrece un relato comparativo del desarrollo institucional que revela las interconexiones que dan forma a las Américas como un solo campo.

I approach the Iberian Atlantic as a field where law, literature, and visual forms converge, showing how legal frameworks, economic systems, racial formations, and imperial structures worked together to organize, represent, and contest power.Abordo el Atlántico ibérico como un campo donde convergen el derecho, la literatura y las formas visuales, mostrando cómo los marcos legales, los sistemas económicos, las formaciones raciales y las estructuras imperiales trabajaron juntas para organizar, representar y disputar el poder.

Based in Mexico City, I am completing my book manuscript Tempest-Tossed: Charles A. Beard and the Rise of American Civilization while developing a digital humanities project with my sister, an award-winning animator, aimed at producing animated historical narratives and teaching resources for universities and scholarly outreach.Radicado en la Ciudad de México, estoy completando mi manuscrito Tempest-Tossed: Charles A. Beard and the Rise of American Civilization mientras desarrollo un proyecto de humanidades digitales con mi hermana, una animadora galardonada, orientado a producir narrativas históricas animadas y recursos didácticos para universidades y divulgación académica.

educationeducación

  • Ph.D. in History, University of Edinburgh, 2012–2017Doctorado en Historia, University of Edinburgh, 2012–2017
  • Doctoral Research, Stockholm University, 2010–2012Investigación doctoral, Stockholm University, 2010–2012
  • M.A. in History, Uppsala University, 2007–2009Maestría en Historia, Uppsala University, 2007–2009
  • Erasmus Exchange, University of Coimbra, 2008Intercambio Erasmus, Universidad de Coimbra, 2008
  • B.A. in Political Science, UNAM, 2005Licenciatura en Ciencia Política, UNAM, 2005

appointmentsnombramientos

  • Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Newcastle University, 2021–2024
  • Visiting Researcher, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 2023Investigador visitante, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 2023
  • Visiting Researcher, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2023Investigador visitante, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2023

languagesidiomas

Spanish (native) · English (fluent) · French & Portuguese (reading) · Swedish (conversational)Español (nativo) · Inglés (fluido) · Francés y portugués (lectura) · Sueco (conversacional)

professional profileperfil profesional

Teaching Experience

Teaching Assistant, Newcastle University

Introduction to Latin America, 2021–2024. Lectured on Latin American history, politics, and society from the colonial period to independence.

Introduction to History, Culture, and Society of the Iberian Peninsula, 2022–2024. Seminar leader for a comparative module examining the histories of Spain and Portugal from the early modern period to the twentieth century, with attention to Atlantic and global connections.

Undergraduate Tutor, University of Edinburgh

American History 2, 2013–2016. Seminar instructor for an undergraduate survey of U.S. history from the colonial period to the early twenty-first century. Led weekly discussions and assessed written work.

Graduate Seminar Instructor, Universidad de la República, Uruguay

Historiography of the Constitution of the United States, Spring 2023. Taught an intensive 20-hour seminar course on the origins of the U.S. Constitution of 1787.

Qualifications

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

UK Professional Recognition for Teaching in Higher Education. No. PR311455. Awarded January 2025.

Additional Training

  • Introduction to Conceptual History, University of Helsinki, Finland, 2011.
  • Towards a New Political History, Syddansk Universitet, Denmark, 2011.
  • Film Appreciation, El Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, A.C., Mexico, 2006–2007.

Professional Experience

Political Analyst, Mexican Senate

2002–2003. Conducted policy analysis and systematic media monitoring on legislative and political developments.

Independent Researcher

2017–2019. Developed a new research agenda in the comparative history of Latin America grounded in the early constitutional histories of Chile and Argentina.

Current Research

Based in Mexico City, I am completing my book manuscript while developing a digital humanities project with my sister, an award-winning animator, aimed at producing animated historical narratives and teaching resources for universities and scholarly outreach.

Selected Conferences

  • “The Origins and Collapse of the 1826 Constitution of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.” UKLAH 2025, University of Liverpool, 6 June 2025.
  • “Crafting a Visual Narrative of Latin American Law: The Making of Divine Winds of South America 1762–1866.” Institute of Advanced Studies, University College London, 21 October 2024.
  • “Divine Winds of South America, 1762–1866: The Paths of Law in Chile and Argentina.” In the Thick of Images: Law, History, and the Visual, University of Lucerne, 10 June 2024.
  • “Military Crises and Constitutional Orders in Chile and Argentina, 1819–1870.” Constitutions and Crises, University of Cambridge, 10–11 March 2022.
  • “A Transnational Saga of Constitutional Power, 1787–1917.” 20th Annual International Graduate Student Conference on Transatlantic History, University of Texas at Arlington, 26–27 September 2019.