It is a true honor to welcome Dr. Fernando Calderón to the podcast. Fernando is Associate Professor of History and Graduate Coordinator in the Department of History in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Northern Iowa. He teaches courses on the Cold War, Latin America, Comparative Revolutions, Facism and Anti-Facism. He specializes in student politics in the 1970s working class culture and political violence in Mexico.
An interesting fact is that Fernando had family participate in the Mexican revolution and he likes to make it clear to students that the Mexican revolution was the first social revolution of the 20th century.
In this episode, Fernando articulates the power of teaching writing and critical thinking via the Humanities. He shares how he sees his students as up-and-coming public intellectuals who can “weaponize history and push back against a lot of the hurtful revisionism that takes place all the time.” Fernando also reminds us of the unique demands our students face and how “being more human” and taking time to support student growth can have inspiring outcomes.
A note of gratitude: A huge thanks to Anton Reiter, Learning Spaces Specialist at UNI for helping with the recording and processing of this podcast. Thanks Anton!