Galo González

from the Macalester Public Knowledge Base

An interview to Galo González

1) Where are you from and how did you arrive to the US?

Oh, that’s a long story…I’ll make it short. I’m originally from Quito, Ecuador. And I lived in Ecuador until the age of 18. My family had begun to inmigrate to the United States in 1962, 1963 however I was a student in a seminar. I was becoming a ^^^^^ so a part of my family had moved to the U.S. in California in 1965 1966 and I was to follow in 1969 so I left the seminar in 1968, of course. I stayed there for one more year and I tried to finish up my high school diploma. I had done classical studies which implied that I didn’t get my high school as the regular high school diploma, rather more like a religious degree. So I completed that and then I moved on to first year of medical school in the central university (universidad central) however september classes begun december classes closed because there was a revolt of students, a rebellion of students who were going on strike for the next of the year. so, thank goodness that we were arranging the visa materials for me to travel. In January of 1970 I moved to California to Los Angeles with my father. A part of my family was still in the process of moving to the United States. That has been my experience of how I ended up here.

2) How did you come to Macalester?

That’s an easy question actually to answer. The reason why is because by 1985 I had finished my doctoral degree in berkeley and so I started to apply for jobs but I was working actually teaching during the summer at the institute of languages in monterrey california. And I was offered a full year in Berkeley, as the director of the undergradute language programs. So at that time I was heading like Susana does organising the first and second level Spanish courses. So I did that for a year. At the same time I was searching for a job through the MLA (multi language association) which is the channel that we use t jobs. So I was lucky enough to attrack 15 offers. So I had a good number of people interested in my degree. My degree is in literature, the study of Hispanic literature and languages with emphasis in Latin America. I was the first generation of proffesors, of new graduates in Berkeley in that field. Their department focused in golden age, classical traditional linguistics or romance languages degree. As a first generation I thought maybe I might not be able to find a job inmediately. But it happend to be that yes, at that time they were looking for people focusing in Latin America as a study, particularly fiction. My doctoral dissertation was on Jose Maria Arguedas and the indigenous literature, so whole movements of indigenous literature was part of my especialization. So maybe it was the right time at the right place. So I had some interviews in the Midwest, a couple in Chicago, and this was actualy my last stop in the series of 15. So I came from Berkeley really not knowing at all anything about macalester. And I liked it! Actually in my visit I really enjoyed the group that held the interview, they were very kind, very open. But what I liked actually was the students. The interview with the students was to me the most interesting of all. Because they asked me questions and we were able to share experiences. Some of them had travelled already; they had been in Ecuador, in Peru. So I have an interest in what they had to say. The department needed a third professor, particularly one professor in the area of Latin America, and with the intention of stabishing a latin american studies program. But I did not know that at that time. So I came. And I started in September of 1986. I would have ended before Macalester; my second choice was DePauw University in Chicago, a business school. But the decision was easy. I really liked the campus [at Macalester] small, people were more friendly. I felt more at home because of the international environment. The other colleges that I visited they had people from other parts of the world, but there was something missing. The aspect of, I don’t know, it was a sense of internationalism, that yet I didn’t read it but it was there.

3) What were the deepest differences that you noticed, between your professional/academic life in your country as compared to the one found in Macalester?

I feel that I was fortunate on one hand and unfortunate in the other. [Unfortunate] of not been able to understand well the university system in Ecuador. The major difference was that you could enter directly into your studies, which in my case was medicine. And what I did not understand then it was that the school was politicized to the maximum. So the first year students were basically recruited by different political parties. That’s one of the things I learned later on when I was out of the country. However the major difference is of course that education at the college level in the U.S. is totally different, you have more available materials to directly consult, libraries for example are much more accessible. So, the accessibility of materials for studying was much more accessible to me here in the U.S. than when I was a student at Ecuador. The fortunate part was that education was basically free for me. But then education was not complete, or supported to make you a... because even though I would have eventually finished my degree in Ecuador it would have taken probably a little longer a lot more effort from the part of me as a student to acquire my knowledge, because I would have to find the resources beyond the classroom, or beyond the university campus, or the medical school. The practical aspect of entering the field was a benefit [in Ecuador] because you could actually go to the hospital as a first year student; follow up a case, so you could see how the profession worked. In the United States it was totally the opposite. I had to pay for my studies, of course that was the disadvantage, however, I had a different kind of experience. I was able to go through the system quickly. Learning the language was an important factor but however once you reach that level of fluidity in the language you can actually advance quickly in your studies. At Macalester, I think, Macalester students extraordinarily lucky, as a teacher, as an instructor, I can see the advantages of a small community a small college. As opposed of my experience in Ecuador as a student at a big university where you get lost. If you weren’t involved in politics you were in a small group of people. It was a different kind of environment. An environment contained like Macalester helps students focus quickly in their academic goals and helps them in their intellectual growth. It’s much more guided and directed then it was in my case in Ecuador. The incentives for learning quickly through your career, of course I’m talking about Ecuador in the 60’s, I’m not sure how it is nowadays. Certainly much better then it was before. The American universities, students have the economic resources to maintain and contain the knowledge that they would like to provide their students for them to be successful. The relationship between students and faculty is a major factor of difference. But I think the students make a difference, you could be successful in other systems.

4) Has the Mac community hindered or fostered your identity? How so?

Identity is major problem for an immigrant anyway. Dealing with identity, negotiating your identity, is a continuous struggle, but in Macalester, particularly when I arrived it was even more challenging. I think that my experience of 15 years has been that of change. And during my first years, I found that I was in a particularly white upper middle class professional environment. Most of the professors, basically came from families that had already been 2, 3rd generation professionals. I’m a first generation professional. My parents never went to college, so it was different, plus I’m an Ecuadorian, who became a US citizen, who is bilingual and who is basically in a field that is connected with an international perspective. And that gave me a sense of being an outsider, for the first five years until I got my tenure. I think Macalester welcomes a new faculty member on campus very nicely, very well with open arms. However once you are in the system, you realize that the system has some flaws. The system that I encountered was a culture of individualized opponents. Individualized relations between colleagues. Each one of us was a bit different. At that time I didn’t truly feel that I was connecting with the rest of the community. Maybe because I felt that I was different. There were very few professors from minority groups. I think that I was the first or second to arrive at that time. If you are talking about an identity as a foreigner, an identity as someone who is also from a different ethnic background. In my case a mestizo from Ecuador. I felt that I was not totally part of the community. I felt that there was not a connection, I felt a bit alone and isolated. Maybe it was just my perception, but I felt that overall people were more concerned about where you were from, then what you are as a person. What I felt in my experience in my experience visiting the college, to when I actually entered the community, was a huge difference. I felt that the welcoming was there but there was no follow-up...........Things have improved a lot in the last ten years. They are recruiting more minority professors. We are attracting a good number of African American professors. So the visibility of minority groups professionally has grown in numbers. Macalester is a great institution in attracting professionals like me, and other professors, with diverse issues. Like women in gender studies. The problem is they attract them but don’t hold on to them. I am hoping that by the time I retire, if I retire from Macalester. Macalester will have a larger number of the student body that is more diverse then it is now, beyond the international students that we have, because we have a good number, we always have, but that is not the problem. The problem is integrating, all of the other philosophies. I would be pretty happy to see more young professors from different fields and different places and as administrators of the college, who were from minority background. I think that would make a tremendous difference. I think it would make Macalester a different institution. Of course, a very different institution. That is my hope.