When I first started talking about this master program to my friends and family they did not quite understand what was it about and until now I think they still have a lot of questions that I do not know if I am completely able to answer with accuracy.
My name is Kassandra Portillo and truth is I can say that there are different motives that brought me here, however the one thing that has driven me from the very beginning to pursue a bachelors degree in humanities (in Mexico is a study focused in philosophy, literature arts and history in an intersectional way), is the fact that I am fascinated by culture, books and history. So fascinated in fact that I chose something that has no such a big field of work or even study in my home country.
Because of that, I started working as a teacher and I realized that overall my most fervent desire was to be able to open different ways for more people to have access to amazing, ancient, rare books and all the amazing tools humanities has to offer like articles, catalogues and museums for naming some. You see, the thing is, in Mexico, art, books and culture in general seem so under appreciated but it has also become something for the higher elites since they are the ones that can afford to have access to it. I do not consider this to be fair and a concern that everyone involved in culture in Mexico seems to understand, is the fact that we need to make more efforts to open culture for everyone, without considering their class position. The one way to do this is through technology and I am a firm believer that since we have so much access to it we should be using it with the greater purpose of making life more easy and enjoyable for everyone.
By starting this program I have come to realize that I am acquiring the tools to work towards an opening of the culture in general, but I am also further developing the basis of what I learned in my bachelors, like Latin, History and English, which has reinforced my love for such subjects. But without a doubt the thing I am putting to practice the most is the international understanding of the world, since this program is directed to mostly international students I am learning about different cultures, countries, traditions and even languages which I find entirely fascinating and I consider to be one of the most important experiences this program can give to anyone interested on it.
With the tools the master is giving me, I hope I can be able to open a path in Mexico for culture through education. I would love to work on the editorial field while also developing different projects that show the importance of culture, art and books on a daily basis, while also explaining how there is a future that needs a bigger recognition because we need recovering of ancient books that can tell and show so much about our origin.
In just a little over a month that I have been here so far, I have so many stories to share, I have met amazing people and most of all I have learned so much of myself, so much that I can say that as defying as this master program can be for me, the main reason why I started it and the reason I will continue on this path are the same: for the love of change in culture.
