Rafael Alarcón Medina holds a degree in Sociology of Communication and Education from the Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero; master's and doctorate in Sociology from the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. He has postdoctoral studies in Architecture and Urbanism at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil). He is a tenured researcher in the Department of Cultural Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte and a member of the National System of Researchers (SNI), level I. His work addresses the intersections between memory, history and politics in Latin America.

Realidades socioculturales

Normalizing the Revolution: Teachers and Students in Guerrero’s Universidad Pueblo

  • Ana Lilia Nieto
  • Rafael Alarcón Medina

Keywords: common space of experience, Guerrero, Mexico, normalistas, Universidad Pueblo.

This work analyzes the political-educational project of the Universidad Pueblo in Guerrero state during the 1970s. Using the ideas of Walter Benjamin and Reinhart Koselleck, we argue that this project can be understood as a common space of experience articulated through political ideas, educational practices, and student movements in the recollections of professors and students. We suggest that the diverse layers of historical experience of teacher-training professors is a catalyst sparking off today, giving origin to one of the most contradictory and interesting practices in popular higher education in Mexico in the 20th century. This research is supported by in-depth interviews in 2018 and 2019 in Acapulco and Chilpancingo in Guerrero state.