Jon Preston obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and Mathematics, and a First Class Honours degree in Spanish at Victoria University of Wellington between 2007 and 2010.

“During my undergraduate studies, I was lucky enough to spend a semester on exchange at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago.

“This improved my Spanish and opened my eyes to Chilean culture, history and politics.”

After living and working in Chile for almost two years, Jon returned to the University in early 2013 to begin his doctoral research.

“I wanted to look at the way Chile’s polarised history continues to influence the country today.”

Jon’s PhD thesis, titled ‘Remembering a Different Future: Dissident Memories and Identities in Contemporary Chilean Society’, analyses David Aniñir’s poetry, commemorations of the victims of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship and Carmen Castillo’s autobiographical books and documentaries.

He says the link between these diverse topics is the way they challenge the hegemonic official discourse in Chile today, which uses the idea of reconciliation to draw attention away from and even whitewash unresolved aspects of the divisive past.

When considering universities for my doctoral studies in Spanish, I chose Victoria University of Wellington. Reason? I found a mentor, my supervisor, even before I finished with the applications.

My studies here have opened up opportunities for me to interact with some of the best scholars in the field of Spanish and Latin American Studies. My supervisors, for example, are some of the leading critics/scholars in this field of study. It is a great opportunity to study under them and this has enhanced my analytical skills.

My doctoral research is on Literature and Nationhood in the Works of Nicolás Guillén and Ayi Kwei Armah. It seeks to explain how Guillén’s poetry represents the life of Cubans after independence, how Armah explores the Ghanaian process of independence and how existing postcolonial and cultural studies theories can account for the national identities that Guillén and Armah construct.

The University keeps moving up in the world ranking of universities each year. I got really fascinated by this and decided to plunge into this adventure. The experience for me has been a great one, with warm and welcoming lecturers and academic staff.

My passion is to teach and mentor students, and with the training at the University, I am well-equipped to effectively pursue this passion: to teach and motivate my students.