Department ofHistory

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Ashley Smouse

Ashley Smouse

Department of History Graduate Student

205/207 Weaver Building

University Park, PA 16802

Education:

M.A., Early Modern History, The College of William and Mary
B.A., History, Weber State University

Biography:

I am a graduate student of History in the Early Modern Global program. I am a cultural historian who specializes in the Spanish Empire and religious women in the Early Modern Era. I am interested in how nuns and convents exercised spiritual agency and maintained ties outside of cloistered communities while navigating religious hierarchies in different regions of the Spanish Empire. I also study how nuns and convents exercised corporate agency and financial autonomy through litigation.

Research Interests

The Spanish Empire, Women and Gender Studies, Latin America, Religious History, Colonial Legal History

Advisor

Dr. Amanda Scott