Abstract

ROMO BELTRAN, Rosa Martha  and  CRUZ BARBA, Evangelina. Professional identities and inherited history of university faculty members: Psychology and Tourism at the University of Guadalajara. Perfiles educativos [online]. 2015, vol.37, n.149, pp.42-59. ISSN 0185-2698.

This article highlights a diversity of identity creation processes in faculty members of the B.A. degrees in Psychology and Tourism at the University of Guadalajara (Universidad de Guadalajara). From a comparative-institutionalist perspective, the inquiry's point of departure is the academics' voice itself. The study also addresses the "inherited history" underlying these two professions that have a strong drive towards serving and helping others. Research on the faculty members of the B.A. in Psychology was conducted through interviews to and observations by 20 informants (15 men and 5 women) who were representative of the three phases in the development of an academic degree: a) the foundations; b) a first restructuring of the curriculum; and c) the admission of the first BA graduates as faculty members. In the case of tourism, the research team has worked with 8 professors (4 men and 4 women) who are graduates pertaining to the first generations of the University's B.A. in Tourism.

Keywords : Professional identity; Faculty members; Oral history; Psychology; Tourism.