History scholar wins Mexican doctoral thesis prize

Dr Itzel Toledo García, who recently completed her PhD in our Department of History, has won the 2017 Genaro Estrada Award for the best doctoral thesis on Mexican international relations.

Dr Toledo García’s thesis, titled The Dilemma of Revolution and Stabilisation: Mexico and the European Powers in the Obregón-Calles Era, 1920-28, depicts Mexican diplomacy towards European powers (Great Britain, France and the German Republic) in the 1920s, when these countries were in reconstruction processes after the end of the Mexican Revolution and the First World War.

The annual prize is awarded by the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs to the best research on the history of international relations in Mexico and is one of a trio of prizes for work by undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students. The award was presented to Itzel in the Jesús Terán auditorium of the former Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco School, Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Mexico City.

Dr Toledo García completed her PhD at Essex in 2017 and is now the Matias Romero Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Latin American Studies at the University of Texas in Austin.