James Pantefedwyn Foundation

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Rachel Morgan

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to the James Pantyfedwen Foundation for their indispensable financial support throughout the full three years of my PhD in Latin American History and Literature at Swansea University. I passed my PhD viva with minor corrections and was awarded my Doctorate in early 2021 – a dream come true! Without the Foundation’s kindness and generosity, I would not have been able to fulfil a life-long ambition of becoming a Doctor in a discipline which never ceases to enthuse and interest me. During my PhD, I gained three years of valuable multidisciplinary lecturing experience in a higher education environment and had the privilege of organising and presenting at conferences on a local and national level. I worked as Module Convenor and Principal Lecturer for the Beginner’s Spanish programme and taught seminars for an array of other disciplines within the College of Arts and Humanities. During this time, I won the Ede and Ravenscroft Prize for my ‘outstanding contribution to teaching and innovation’ in 2019. The knowledge and skills I have developed throughout my PhD have equipped me for a successful academic career in Higher Education; at present, I work as EPSRC Impact Project Officer at Swansea University and am currently working on transforming my thesis into a book, which will hopefully be accepted for publication.

My thesis entitled ‘Literature and History: Rethinking the Representations of the Regimes of Juan Manuel de Rosas and Juan Domingo Perón’ explores the plausible comparisons between Argentina’s most polemical political leaders, focusing on the literary representations of both figures in a series of nineteenth and twentieth-century fictional and historical works. Studying Rosas and Perón is even more significant in view of the striking similarities between their wives, who were instrumental in elevating their husbands to long-term political supremacy. Both women assumed unofficial roles in their spouses’ administrations and one, namely Eva Perón, is arguably Argentina’s most celebrated political icon. The parallels between both men and women have – strangely – never undergone literary treatment. My study offers the first comprehensive analysis of the four most controversial political figures who have influenced much of the historiography of Argentina.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone at the James Pantyfedwen Foundation for your contribution to my academic success by way of a very generous scholarship. Your help and support have, and always will be, greatly appreciated. Diolch yn fawr iawn!