PhD Student Bios

Maira Arantes Rodrigues

Maira Arantes Rodrigues

Maira Arantes Rodrigues

Latin America, globalization, digital history, immigration, cultural and political history

I am a second-year PhD student in Latin American History at George Mason University, where I finished a MA in History in 2020. My career started with a BA in Business, followed by more than ten years working as a strategic planning consultant in Latin America. In those formative years, I developed a strong sense of the region's current challenges by exploring areas such as education, insurance, public housing, and urbanization. 

My primary academic interest is at the intersection of Cultural and Political Globalization, and Digital History. I'm especially interested in data analysis to understand the building of national identities and to recognize and explain major changes in public opinion and their political outcomes.

Right now, I’m finishing my minor in Modern Global History, in which I’m focused on identifying the main historical explanations to the circulation of ideas and people across the globe and its repercussions. I’m also finalizing my research about the Leticia Dispute and the diplomatic communications’ network it triggered. In that project, I use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to describe how local conflicts and international pressures shaped the process of modern nation-building in South America. 

I joined the Institute of Immigration Research for its quantitative methods and the understanding that there is no Global History without Immigration. And vice versa.

Education

PhD in History, George Mason University (in progress) (2022-2027, expected)

MA in History, George Mason University (2020)

MBA in Marketing, Universidade de São Paulo

BA in Business, Universidade de São Paulo