Photo of Marcel
PhD Candidate in Hispanic Studies
320D Arts and Science Building
Education
  • PhD – Hispanic Studies, University of Missouri (in progress)
  • Doctoral Recognized Student – Latin American Studies, University of Oxford, England, 2023.
  • Research Scholar – Program in Atlantic History, University of Oxford, Corpus Christi College, England, Summer 2021.
  • MA – Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Missouri, 2019.
  • BA – Sociology, Universidad Centroamericana, 2016.
Research

Marcel’s doctoral dissertation revisits the royalist discursive production surrounding the 1894 military annexation of the Miskitu Reserve into the Republic of Nicaragua, raising questions about the uses of narratives regarding British imperialism as literary tools adopted by Miskitu Indians and Afro-descendants in their petitions. Constituting a window into a broader tradition of Afro-Amerindian autoethnographies developed in Eastern Central America throughout the nineteenth century, the petitions studied here provide nuanced insights into political and cultural frameworks defining understudied processes of state formation and indigenous literatures in Black Atlantic’s Central America.

Bio

Marcel Jaentschke is a Campbell Graduate Fellow, PhD candidate, and graduate instructor at the University of Missouri. Marcel earned an MA in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of Missouri and completed undergraduate studies in Sociology at Universidad Centroamericana. Marcel does research on comparative literature and cultural studies, with a focus on the Caribbean region of Central America.

One of Marcel’s book reviews appeared in Istmo: Revista virtual de estudios literarios y culturales centroamericanos, and his article “Managua: el lugar del extrañamiento en la ficción de Juan Aburto” was included in Cuentos Completos (Managua: Hispamer & Centroamérica Cuenta, 2018), a critical edition of the complete short stories of Nicaraguan writer Juan Aburto, edited by Dr. Erick Blandón.

Awards and Honors

  • Campbell Graduate Research Fellowship, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Missouri, 2023.
  • Gamma Alpha Gamma Dissertation Year Fellowship, University of Missouri Graduate School, University of Missouri, 2022-2023.
  • Research Scholarship, University of Oxford’s Corpus Christi College, Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, MU College of Arts and Science, 2021.
  • Doctoral Teaching Fellowship, Hispanic Studies, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Missouri, 2019-present.
Teaching

Elementary Spanish: SPAN 1100, SPAN 1200, SPAN 2100