Professor 和 Chair of 历史 Ignacio Gallup-Diaz has been 教ing at Bryn Mawr since the fall of 1999. We sat down with Gallup-Diaz to talk about his unique journey to academia 和 his 教ing 和 mentorship at Bryn Mawr.
Can you take us through your journey getting to Bryn Mawr?
I often share with students I mentor that when I was in undergrad, 我读的是医学预科，想进医学院. It was a common immigrant experience for my generation; so, 我妹妹本来要去法学院的, 我本来要去医学院的.
大学毕业后我休息了一段时间, 在这五年期间, 我得好好想想我想做什么, 我是谁, 我决定成为一名历史学家. 我一直希望有时间沉思, 想想看, 写, 教, 和聪明的年轻人一起讨论想法. 这些就是促使我做出决定的因素. 我一直热爱历史，现在仍然热爱历史. 我没有怀疑过自己，也没有回顾过一次.
你的研究领域是什么?
I’m interested in what is still called the “colonial history of the Americas” (1500s-1800s), but I broaden it 和 make very clear that it is the Americas that I’m talking about—not just colonial, 英国, 或者是美国核武器的前驱阶段.S. I'm especially interested in the experiences of enslaved people 和 Indigenous communities 和 societies. I'm trying to deepen 和 broaden what could be a pretty familiar story of the process of colonization 和 show how there are deeply embedded structures 和 processes that outlive the colonial era.
Can you describe your popular Pirates, Travelers, 和 Natural Historians: 1492-1750 course?
很长一段时间, I taught a pirate class as an upper-level seminar that always limited the number of people who could take it. Over the last five years, I’ve converted a version of it into a lower-level class. 这一直吸引着越来越多的学生, 和 now there are 49 students in that class which is huge for me.
The course explores how pirates interacted with Indigenous people 和 peoples of African descent, 和, 另一方面, examines the experiences of Indigenous 和 African-American pirates. I try to integrate pirates into a more complicated underst和ing of the Atlantic World.
在布林莫尔教书是什么感觉?
Teaching is like nothing else in that I’m constantly being pushed. And I’m hopefully constantly, properly, pushing students. It feels like my mind is constantly being engaged 和 worked through by really smart students that keep me on my toes. 学生们聪明、上进心强. Even though they are young, the students have deep 和 advanced knowledge 和 immersion in things.
What is the kind of classroom environment you strive to create?
I try to manage a classroom that is inclusive 和 open, where all feel welcome to contribute. There's an element of kinship because in any classroom, 会有一些内向的学生. And those are my people; I recognize them, they recognize me. So, I try to provide quiet students ramps where they can express their ideas. I’m always careful to say at the end of every class that if you didn’t feel that you could get your contributions into the flow of the conversation, there’s space for you to engage with your peers using online tools. So, I try finding what it means for us to have a class to have fully discussed a topic or a reading, 不要把所有的负担都放在学生身上.
你在布林茅尔的那段时间里, many Latinx students have felt supported by your 教ing 和 mentorship. 你能多说一点吗?
I still have a letter that I keep in my desk written by a Latinx student from Idaho from my first three years of 教ing. I was her advisor in the major 和 then after she graduated, she wrote me this wonderful letter about how meaningful it was to her to have me as the person who did her 教ing 和 advising. But I was just doing my thing; it was just me being me, a person of color with authority in academia in a primarily white institution with a minority of faculty of color. 所以，学生们会被那个人吸引. I did have all these points of contact 和 engagement from advising with the student, but there was also that element of representation that was important to her. I understood this in a way, but that letter made it really clear to me.
How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
我花很多时间散步和徒步旅行. I live in West Philly, 和 I think it's one of the more beautiful parts of Philly. I know where my coffee shop is, I know where my bookstore is, or where I can get newspapers. But I can also walk in a way that’s not directed towards any of that. 我真的很喜欢艺术, 和 one of the things I like about Philly is that it has a very vibrant local arts scene.
I make no attempt to hide the fact that I like popular culture 和 TV. My students have revealed to me that they’ve been making lists of TV shows 和 movies that I’ve referenced, 和 they’re trying to organize some viewing parties.
I like reading, 和 the other thing I make no effort to hide is that I enjoy comics. I really enjoy the fact that it’s a community of creators that's really varied, it has the energy of successive iterations of young people involved.
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