Dr Jesús Sanjurjo-Ramos

Strathclyde Chancellor's Fellow

History

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Personal statement

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) & Chancellor’s Fellow in Atlantic World History at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Since November 2022, I have served as a Member of Council and Trustee of the Royal Historical Society.

My academic career began in Spain with a BA from the University of Oviedo, after which I moved to the UK for postgraduate studies. I completed my MA and PhD at the University of Leeds, under the supervision of Prof Manuel Barcia (University of Bath) and Dr Gregorio Alonso (University of Leeds), with my doctoral research generously funded by an AHRC-WRoCAH Scholarship. 

Following the completion of my doctorate, I taught at the universities of York, Cardiff, and Cambridge. In 2022, I was awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, which I held at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of History and Corpus Christi College, under the mentorship of Prof Nicholas Guyatt.

My name can be tricky to pronounce, I know... How to Say My Name ↗

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Teaching

From the miners’ riots of 1767 in San Luis Potosí and the Great African Slave Revolt of 1825 in Cuba, to Concepción Arenal's radical activism in Spain, I have always been passionate about exploring with my students the courageous struggles of those whose histories have too often been ignored in traditional narratives. Currently, I contribute to the following modules:

History Modules

- V1235: The British Empires: Conquest, Commerce, and Cooperation, 1556-2013  

- V1729: BA Hons. Dissertation  

- V1806: Advanced Topics in Historical Studies

Spanish Modules

- R4228: Counter-Currents in the Hispanic World (co-convener with Dr. Rhiannon McGlade)  

- R4498: BA Hons. Dissertation  

- Spanish 1A & 1B: 'Three Revolutions that Transformed Latin America' (Lectures)

Doctoral and Postdoctoral Supervision

I welcome inquiries from motivated and qualified applicants worldwide who are working in the broad areas of:

  • Slavery, the slave trade, race and resistance;
  • Crime and punishment, carceral systems, and state violence in the Atlantic World;
  • Spanish, Spanish imperial, and Latin American histories, as well as interdisciplinary approaches to the diplomatic, political, military, and social histories of the Atlantic World from around 1700 to 1900. 
  • Diplomatic, political, and cultural relations between Britain, Ireland, Spain, and Latin America in the early-modern and modern worlds.

Our research opportunities page allows you to search for projects and scholarships.

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Research Interests

My first monograph, In the Blood of Our Brothers. Abolitionism and the End of the Slave Trade in Spain’s Atlantic Empire, 1800–1870 (University of Alabama Press, 2021) was a finalist for the Paul E. Lovejoy Prize. In December 2023, Editorial Comares published its Spanish edition.

I am currently co-leading the flagship project 'The Prison Blueprint: How Colonial Incarceration Forged Modern Racial Injustice', together with Dr Lloyd Belton (University of Glasgow). The project encompasses various initiatives to examine the historical origins of systemic racism and class discrimination in contemporary criminal justice systems by bringing together historians, computer scientists specialising in AI, criminologists, philosophers, and justice policy experts. The project is generously funded by the British Library's Endangered Archives Programme, the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, and Strathclyde’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Science.

Professional Activities

Using AI to Track Systemic Racism in Historical Carceral Systems
Organiser
18/6/2025
CONNECTS-UK 4th Open Forum: ‘Global Economics: History is Not the Past’
Invited speaker
5/6/2025
Pirate Imperialism: A Round-Table Discussion with Prof Manuel Barcia
Participant
8/6/2026
HISTORY AND ARCHIVES IN PRACTICE
Participant
16/4/2026
Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies (Journal)
Associate Editor
3/2026
Castigo a la osadía: la revolución que no fue de Santiago de Cuba en 1836
Speaker
25/2/2026

More professional activities

Projects

The Prison Blueprint: How Colonial Incarceration Forged Modern Racial Injustice
Sanjurjo-Ramos, Jesus (Principal Investigator) Belton, Lloyd (CoPI) Moshfeghi, Yashar (Co-investigator) Izaguirre, Yaimara (Co-investigator) Thompson-Brown, Beverley (Co-investigator) Barcia, Manuel (Researcher) Bardes, John (Researcher) Basques, Messias (Researcher) GONZALEZ ARANA, Roberto (Researcher) Guyatt, Nicholas (Researcher) Gyollai, Daniel (Researcher) Jardine, Cara (Researcher) Mantilla Morales, Valeria Sofia (Researcher) Moss, Kellie (Researcher) Naranjo, Consuelo (Researcher) Piacentini, Laura (Researcher) Sabala, Vanesa (Researcher) Sarmiento Ramirez, Ismael (Researcher) Bhopal, Aneel Singh (Fellow) Surwillo, Lisa (Researcher) Weaver, Beth (Researcher)
This flagship project encompasses various initiatives to examine the historical origins of systemic racism and class discrimination in contemporary criminal justice systems by bringing together historians, computer scientists specialising in AI, criminologists, philosophers, and justice policy experts. Led by Dr Jesús Sanjurjo (University of Strathclyde) and Dr Lloyd Belton (University of Glasgow), our research is centred around the recent unearthing of a unique historical collection: Havana's Royal Prison Logbooks.

Spanning a century (1837-1937), these extraordinary manuscripts from one of the Atlantic's largest colonial prisons contain detailed records of thousands of men, women, and children, both free and enslaved. By connecting this rich historical data with contemporary policy, we aim to directly inform current debates on prison reform and the enduring legacies of racial injustice. The initiative is generously funded by the University of Strathclyde, the University of Glasgow, the British Library's Endangered Archives Programme, the UKRI-ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

The project comprises the following research initiatives:

1. 'Using AI for Tracking Systemic Racism in Historical Carceral Systems', co-led by Dr Sanjurjo, Dr Moshfeghi, and Dr Belton, 1/02/25 → 31/07/25, funded by a University of Strathclyde's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant, £2,000.00.

2. 'Havana’s Royal Prison Logbooks (1836-1898): Digitisation, Preservation and Dissemination', co-led by Dr Sanjurjo, Dr Moshfeghi, Dr Belton, and MSc. Izaguirre, 1/10/25 → Ongoing, funded by the British Library's Endangered Archives Programme (pilot), £15,000.00, https://eap.bl.uk/project/EAP1676

3. 'To contain the diffusion of pernicious ideas. The systematic imprisonment of Black sailors in Cuba and the United States, 1830-1850' ['Para contener la difusión de ideas perniciosas: Encarcelamiento sistemático de marineros negros en Cuba y Estados Unidos, 1830-1850'], co-led by Dr Belton, Dr Sanjurjo, MSc. Izaguirre, in partnership with Dr John Bardes, 1/05/25 → Ongoing, internally funded.

4. 'Using AI to Track Systemic Racism in Historical Carceral Systems', ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA), co-led by Dr Sanjurjo, Dr Moshfeghi, and Dr Belton in partnership with Beverley Thompson-Brown OBE, 01/11/25 → Ongoing, funded by an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) Award, £14,769.96.

5. 'Historical Prison Systems in The Atlantic World and Their Impact on the Construction of Contemporary Penitentiary Models', I-LINK Programme of the CSIC and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities Scheme, led by Prof Consuelo Naranjo, co-led by Prof Consuelo Naranjo (CSIC-Madrid) and Dr Sanjurjo, 1/01/2026 → Ongoing, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities' I-LINK Scheme, €30,000.00
01-Jan-2025
Havana’s Royal Prison Logbooks (1836-1898): Digitisation, Preservation and Dissemination.
Sanjurjo-Ramos, Jesus (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2026
AI Fluency for educators
Sanjurjo-Ramos, Jesus (Academic)
This AI fluency course empowers academic faculty, instructional designers, and apply AI Fluency into their own teaching practices. Designed and led by Prof. Joseph Feller (University College Cork, ROI) and Prof. Rick Dakan (Ringling College, USA) and hosted by Anthropic.
12-Jan-2026 - 12-Jan-2026
From Archive to Audience: A Graphic History as a Knowledge Exchange Catalyst
Sanjurjo-Ramos, Jesus (Principal Investigator) Izaguirre, Yaimara (Co-investigator) Zapico, Alfonso (Co-investigator)
This knowledge exchange project translates original archival research on nineteenth-century Cuba, state violence and racial hierarchy into a public-facing graphic history. It is based on the forthcoming article, ‘Anatomy of a Failed Revolution: Manuel Lorenzo’s Uprising and the Extraordinary Case of the Pardo Candelario Villafaña in Santiago de Cuba (1835–1837)’, co-authored by Dr Jesús Sanjurjo and Yaimara Izaguirre.

The project examines the case of Candelario Villafaña, a free pardo man sentenced to 200 lashes and ten years of exile after the failed multiracial uprising led by Manuel Lorenzo in Santiago de Cuba. The research argues that this punishment fused the legal regimes of slavery and political dissidence, revealing how colonial authorities used racialised terror to defend the slave system and suppress radical political challenges.

Through collaboration between historians and the award-winning graphic artist Alfonso Zapico, the project will produce a short bilingual graphic history designed for public, educational and museum audiences. The comic will function as a knowledge exchange catalyst, enabling wider audiences to engage with the histories of slavery, colonialism, state violence and racial hierarchies beyond the conventional academic article. The project will also generate public engagement activities, feedback materials and a methodological ‘lessons learned’ toolkit for researchers interested in translating archival research into graphic narrative.
05-Jan-2026 - 31-Jan-2026
£14,769.96 - ESRC-IAA Using AI to Track Systemic Racism in Historical Carceral Systems
Sanjurjo-Ramos, Jesus (Principal Investigator) Moshfeghi, Yashar (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2025 - 28-Jan-2027
Black Soldiers of the Caribbean: Race, Slavery and Radical Politics
Sanjurjo-Ramos, Jesus (Principal Investigator)
This project re-examines the 1836 liberal uprising led by General Manuel Lorenzo in Santiago de Cuba, arguing it was a fundamental episode in the history of the revolutionary Atlantic. Moving beyond traditional historiography that frames the event as a mere military affair or elite conspiracy , this research contends that the uprising was a genuine, popular, urban, and deeply racialised revolution. Its initial success was propelled by a heterogeneous coalition that crucially included the active participation of free Black, pardo, and mulatto artisans and militiamen.

The project's central thesis is that the revolution's failure was catalysed by the white elite's profound racial anxiety—the "miedo al negro"—which was ignited by Lorenzo's decision to arm the multiracial militias. While drawing on a long imperial tradition of military service by men of colour as a path to corporate rights , this act was perceived by the planter class and colonial authorities not as the creation of a citizen-soldiery, but as a Jacobin threat to the slave-based social order.

The aftermath was not a simple restoration of authority but marked a pivotal 'repressive turn' in Spanish colonial governance. Through the microhistory of Candelario Villafaña, a free pardo artisan identified as a "principal agent" of the movement , this research analyses the sophisticated machinery of repression deployed by the state.

By centring the experiences of subaltern actors like Villafaña, this project demonstrates that Cuba served as an imperial laboratory for racialised repression and punitive techniques that would define the struggle for freedom in the 19th-century Caribbean. It connects the political history of Cuba to the global history of punishment, revealing how even within the brutal carceral system, prisoners resisted through petitioning, writing, and forming solidarity networks, thereby asserting their humanity and political voice.
01-Jan-2024 - 28-Jan-2025

More projects

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Contact

Dr Jesús Sanjurjo-Ramos
Strathclyde Chancellor's Fellow
History

Email: jesus.sanjurjo-ramos@strath.ac.uk
Tel: Unlisted