Iker Itoiz Ciaurriz

Profile

After receiving a BA (Hons) in History and Politicis (2014) and then an MA in Modern History (2015) from the Complutense University of Madrid, I moved to the University of Edinburgh to begin work on my PhD. under the supervision of Professor Emile Chabal. Having held a temporary teaching fellow in Modern European History at Durham University, I joined the University of Leeds in August 2024 as Teaching Fellow in Modern History. 

Research interests

My research investigates the political and intellectual history of twentieth-century communism, with a particular emphasis on the transnational dynamics that connected Britain, Europe and Latin America. A defining contribution of my work is to show that Latin America was not simply an external arena of revolutionary activity but a central site of theoretical and strategic innovation that reshaped European and British Marxism. By placing Latin American actors, movements, and ideas at the heart of the story, I aim to reinterpret European history through a genuinely global perspective.

My book project, The Crises of Eric Hobsbawm, exemplifies this approach. Drawing on extensive archival research, including Hobsbawm’s private papers, I explore how his engagements with anti-colonial and revolutionary movements, particularly in Latin America, transformed his understanding of political agency, rebellion, and the prospects for socialism in Britain and, more widely, in Europe. I argue that these encounters played a decisive role in reshaping debates within the Communist Party of Great Britain and the broader British Left during moments of crisis (1956, 1978, and 1989), challenging entrenched assumptions about class politics, parliamentary strategy, and the trajectory of British socialism. By situating British political thought within global circulations of ideas, my work contributes to a more expansive and internationally engaged understanding of modern British history and modern European history, challenging long-standing Eurocentric assumptions about revolutionary change.

More broadly, my work shows how ideas circulated across the Atlantic during the Cold War and how intellectuals such as Hobsbawm used insights from Latin America to reassess questions of class transformation, political strategy, and the role of mass movements within European democracies. This transnational approach enables a richer and more accurate understanding of European and British political thought by highlighting the global interactions that shaped it.

Qualifications

• PhD in History
• MA in Modern History
• BA (Hons) History
• BA (Hons) Political Science

Professional memberships

• Royal Historical Society

Student education

I convene and contribute to a range of research-led modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level that are linked to my interests and expertise in Modern British History, wider histories of Modern and Contemporary Europe and Latin America history.
First, my teaching explores twentieth-century political and intellectual history from a global perspective. I encourage students to examine how political ideas, movements, and revolutions developed through exchanges across regions, particularly between Europe and Latin America during the Cold War. By placing European history within these wider transnational contexts, students gain a deeper understanding of how global encounters reshaped debates about socialism, democracy, and political change.
Second, my teaching focuses on modern British and European history within its wider global context. I encourage students to explore how political ideas, movements, and debates in Britain and Europe have been shaped by international events and transnational exchanges. Drawing on my research on British and European communism and Cold War intellectual history, my teaching introduces students to key themes in twentieth-century history, including the transformation of the British Left, the global circulation of political ideas, and the relationship between historical scholarship and political engagement.
Third, drawing on my research on figures such as Eric Hobsbawm, my teaching introduces students to major themes including revolution, nationalism, capitalism, and the transformation of the Left in the twentieth century. Students engage with both primary sources and key historiographical debates in order to understand how historical arguments are constructed and contested.
In sum, I use a wide variety of multi-media source materials in my teaching to ensure students have access to a diverse array of historical actors, voices and perspectives.