Jorge Puma-Crespo
Assistant Professor of HistoryDr. Jorge Puma started as an assistant professor at 做厙TV in August 2023. He teaches introductory courses on the history of the Modern World and Latin American History, covering both the colonial and modern periods. His lectures combine insights from transnational history with case studies from national spheres. Using movies, graphic novels, and primary sources, Dr. Puma invites his students to explore the history of an interconnected world from new perspectives.
Dr. Puma holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Paris-Saclay. He was a 2022 Chateaubriand Fellow in Humanities and Social Sciences and a 2017 Fulbright-Garc穩a Robles alumnus. His dissertation analyzes the links between French radicalism, post-Vatican II Catholic activism, and Mexican protest movements, focusing on the Mexican Maoist group People's Politics (Pol穩tica Popular) and its relationship with left-wing priest movements of the 1970s. In June 2024, his dissertation won the Best Dissertation Award from the Mexican Section of the Latin American Studies Association.
Dr. Puma has published his work in peer-reviewed journals in Chile and the United States. His latest work, on progressive Catholicism in 1970s Mexico, appeared in the March 2022 issue of The Americas. You can read the article .
Areas of Expertise
- twentieth century Latin American history
- Mexican history
- transnational history of the left
- catholic history
- global sixties
Education
- Ph. D., Latin American history, University of Notre Dame, 2023
- Ph. D., History, Universit矇 Paris-Saclay, 2023
- M.A., international history, Centro de Investigaci籀n y Docencia Econ籀micas (CIDE), 2014
- B.A., political science and international relations, CIDE, 2008
- B.A., law, Universidad Pontificia de Mexico, 2005
Selected Grants & Awards
- Best Dissertation Award, Mexican Section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), 2024
- Phillip Gleason Writing Prize for the article The Nazas-Aguanaval Group: Radical Priests, Catholic Networks, and Maoist Politics in Northern Mexico, Department of History, University of Notre Dame, 2023
- Honorable Mention for Ph.D. Dissertation in the Charles A. Hale Fellowship for Mexican History, Latin American Studies Association (LASA), 2023
- The Chateaubriand Fellowship in Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), Embassy of France in the United States, 2022
- Summer Research and Writing Grant, American Catholic Historical Association (ACHA), 2022
- Award for Historical Research Dissertation Projects for The Transnational History of Pol穩tica Popular, 1968-1979, National Institute for Historical Studies of Mexico's Revolutions (INEHRM), 2021
- Scholarship Program for Researchers on China, Center for Chinese-Mexican Studies, UNAM Economics Department, 2021
Selected Publications
- "," The Americas, 79(2), 291-320, 2022
- Latin American Perspectives, 44(6), 140-155, 2017
- "Maoists of Northern Mexico: A Short History of Pol穩tica Popular-L穩nea Proletaria, 1969-1979," Revista Izquierdas (27), Santiago de Chile, Chile: Instituto de Estudios Avanzados de la Universidad de Santiago de Chile, 200-229, 2016
- Fuentes Castillo, Ricardo Yanuel, and Jorge Iv獺n Puma Crespo. "Queremos que el pueblo haga su pol穩tica y nosotros hacerla con 矇l. Una historia de la organizaci籀n mao穩sta Pol穩tica Popular (1968-1979)." In Senderos de lucha: Las izquierdas mexicanas durante la 矇poca de la Guerra Fr穩a, edited by Irving Reynoso Jaime and Uriel Vel獺zquez Vidal. Cuernavaca: Universidad Aut籀noma del Estado de Morelos, 2023
- "Armed Struggle in the Memories of the Maoists of 'Pol穩tica Popular,'" In F. Campos Hern獺ndez, Y. Escamilla Santiago, R. Gami簽o Mu簽oz, & R. Reyes S獺nchez (Eds.), Cartographies of Terror: Memory and Violence in Latin America (pp. 383-414). Guadalajara, M矇xico: Taller Editorial Casa del Mago, 2016
Outside the college
When not teaching, Dr. Puma does political commentary for Mexican media.
616.395.7351
pumacrespo@hope.eduLubbers Hall Room 326 126 East 10th Street Holland, MI 49423