Katalina completed a BA in History with a minor in Great Books from Belmont Abbey College and an MA in History with a Latin American Studies certificate from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her academic interests include the colonial heritage and history of Latin America, with a particular focus on Uruguay and the Dominican Republic, specifically examining how past developments influence later changes in political, cultural, and social life. This includes Latin American notions of social belonging and exclusion as well as the politics of racial identity. Katalina’s research interests are deeply rooted in her personal experience, having spent part of her youth and life in Colombia, Uruguay, and the Dominican Republic.

While still an undergraduate, Katalina was selected to present her work, “A Mess Forgotten: A Neo-imperialist Inspection of the Uruguayan Dictatorship of 1973-1985 during America’s Cold War,” at the 2023 Graduate History Association Conference at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. During her graduate studies, Katalina went on to present “Casta painting: Colonial Mexico’s Identity through Miguel Cabrera” and “Frida Kahlo to Chicanas and Mexican American Communities in Texas,” both at the NAU History Scholar Symposiums in 2023 and 2024, respectively.


Select Publications

Lopez, K. (2025). ¿Quiénes somos?: A historical study of Afro‑Uruguayan and Charrúas in Uruguayan national identity (Master’s thesis). University of Texas, San Antonio.

The thesis examines Indigenous and Black identity movements in Uruguay from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. It draws on historiographical approaches as comparative methods to examine and analyze othered or subaltern communities.