George Clay

George Clay is a PhD candidate in the Georgetown History Department.

Photo of George Clay

Originally from the United Kingdom, he received his BA and MPhil from the University of Cambridge.


George is a historian of slavery and empire in the seventeenth-century Caribbean. His PhD dissertation examines slavery in both the English and the Spanish empires, with a particular focus on the religious and ideological dimensions of the institution. George is also interested in the History of Emotions, and the theoretical problem of how to write histories which analyse emotions as engines of historical change. 


George’s work is based on archival research conducted in Bogotá, Madrid, Seville, and London, which has been generously supported by the Georgetown Americas Institute and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. His work has also been funded by the Mellon Foundation (via a fellowship from Saint Louis University), and the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence for the History of Emotions.