Mead fellow Quin McGlame recently spoke with Professor Cristián Padilla Romero, Visiting Lecturer in History, who began his Trinity journey in 2023. He teaches HIST-322: Race Gender Testimony in Latin America and HIST-339: Revolution, Intervention, & US. Both courses center around studying Latin America, an area Professor Padilla Romero has a personal interest in.
Professor Padilla Romero was born in Honduras and migrated to the United States when he was seven years old. As an undocumented immigrant, Professor Padilla Romero had difficulty finding colleges that would admit him, especially in his home state of Georgia. Fortunately, he was admitted to Pomona College in California and received financial aid to help cover the costs. This opportunity meant so much to Professor Padilla Romero, as he is a first-generation student. After studying Latin American studies at Pomona, he entered the Yale University History Ph.D. program in 2018 and is currently in his fifth year.
Recently, Professor Padilla Romero was selected as a 2024 Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Dissertation Fellow, which he will use to help complete his doctoral dissertation at Yale. This program helps aid doctoral candidates who are completing their dissertations and is funded by the Mellon Foundation. Professor Padilla Romero believes that studying Latin America and its relationship with the United States is essential to understanding the world we find ourselves in today. He feels that schools in Latin America learn about the United States, but the United States does not reciprocate. Through his research and classes, he hopes to bring more attention to a region so close to the United States, yet which is underrepresented and misunderstood. His dissertation topic explores Honduran social movements, particularly Black radicalism, during the early and mid-twentieth century, within the backdrop of the U.S. empire and Honduran national and racial politics.
When asked why studying History in today’s world is critical, Professor Padilla Romero recalled a Karl Marx quote, “[people] make their history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.” Professor Padilla Romero believes that the future is what we make it, and in an age of misinformation, studying history can help shape a better future.
