María José Jiménez Guzmán
— Background
María José Jiménez was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. She holds a BA in History from Universidad Iberoamericana and currently is completing an MA in Latin American Studies at the Institute of the Americas of University College London (UCL). Her research work at UCL explores questions about political representation, media and politics, presidentialism and contemporary history with a regional focus on Latin America, especially Mexico. Her research interests also include the relationship between social development, citizenship and democracy, and life and politics in the experience of living inequality. María José also holds two diplomas, one from University of Haifa, Israel and other from Universidad de Barcelona, Spain.
Her professional experience includes service at Mexico’s President Office, Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola’s Vizcaínas Museum and Mexico’s Ministry of Education. María José is also founder and organizer of a project whose aim is to give courses on Mexican history to non-historians and to expand the scope of history’s virtual education.
As a historian, her goal is to develop a hands-on approach by channelling history as a means to provide and design frameworks of meaning. "I am convinced that teaching finds significant weight in inspiring students to feel commitment to society and harness their professions to generate positive change in our society."