Educational Background
- Bachelor of Arts, Brandeis University, 1968
- Master of Arts, Columbia University, 1971
- Doctor of Philosophy, Columbia University, 1983
Steve Volk teaches Latin American history (from the pre-conquest period to the present) and museum studies. His courses include a 2-semester survey of Latin American history, and more specialized courses on U.S. relations with Latin America, late 20th century dictatorships in the Southern Cone countries, the Mexican Revolution, a team-taught course on “Narrating the Nation,” first-year seminars on imagery (“How Images Matter”) and on human rights (“Human Rights and Human Wrongs”). He also offers a course on Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge,” which he has taught both at Oberlin and as a part of the Oberlin-in-London program. His research interests have included a number of fields including issues on gender and the border (cultural responses to femicides in Ciudad Juarez), Frida Kahlo and Mexican nationalism, and a body of work on 19th and 20th century Chilean history. He is currently working on a book tentatively titled, Not a Part of History We’re Proud Of: Chile, the Overthrow of Allende, and the Shaping of American Historical Memory.
In 2003, Volk was awarded the American Historical Association's Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award "in honor of his dedication to students of history through teaching and mentoring," and in 2001 his role in "helping to restore democracy in Chile" was honored in an award from the Government of Chile.
Volk chairs Latin American Studies and is the Director of Oberlin’s Center for Teaching
Innovation and Excellence.
