Sara Garcia Gonzalez, alumna MA Globalisation and Development Studies
What was it about the MA GDS programme that made you think, ‘This is the one for me’?
After finishing my Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Economics, I spent several years travelling, volunteering and living abroad, trying to understand what I wanted to do with my life. Eventually I decided that I wanted to come back to Europe and start building a career in international development.
Travelling had made me increasingly curious about the different cultures, realities and ways of seeing the world that exist across the globe. I was especially interested in understanding why people can experience and interpret the same world in such fundamentally different ways.
What attracted me to the MA Global Development Studies was precisely this perspective. I liked that the programme did not look at development only from a traditional or Western point of view but gave space to perspectives and knowledge coming from the Global South. I was also attracted by Maastricht University’s young and innovative profile, and by the feeling that I would be challenged to question some of the assumptions I had previously taken for granted.
Could you tell more about your thesis?
For my master’s thesis, I conducted a desk study looking at the political discourse of Francia Márquez, the former Vice President of Colombia, and its alignment with alternative development discourses rooted in Latin America. In particular, I looked at ideas connected to Buen Vivir and Afro-Colombian perspectives from the Pacific region.
My interest in these alternative ways of thinking about development grew throughout the master’s. I became increasingly interested in the idea that development is not a universal concept, and that what we understand as “progress” is shaped by culture, history and different ways of understanding our relationship with society and nature.
Latin America, and particularly the different alternatives to development emerging from the region, really caught my attention. My thesis became an opportunity to explore these ideas in more depth and to connect some of the questions that had been following me for years with the academic discussions I encountered during the programme.
Looking back, what are the things you learned during your studies that truly help you in your current career/experiences/personal life?
If I had to choose one thing, it would be critical thinking. And I don’t just mean being able to analyse information. My time at Maastricht University taught me to look beyond the obvious message, to ask “why?” and, perhaps most importantly, to question my own assumptions.
I also learned the value of deconstruction: being able to break down the pillars on which your understanding of something is built and being open to rebuilding it differently. Sometimes that means realising that something you believed for a long time may not be as straightforward as you thought.
I think this is a skill that goes far beyond academic or professional life. It has also changed the way I understand people and my own experiences. It has made me more comfortable with not having all the answers and with changing my mind when I encounter a different perspective.
Could you tell us more about your current career?
I am currently working as a Project Manager Assistant at Stantec, a consultancy company in Belgium working on international development and sustainability projects funded by the European Commission.
I see this role as a nice intersection between my organisational and project management skills and my interest in international development and sustainability. I am still at the beginning of my career, so I am learning a lot every day, but one of the most rewarding parts of the job is seeing something come to life after weeks or months of preparation. For example, after spending a lot of time planning an event or workshop, there is a moment when you can step back and see people actually engaging with it. Knowing that the work behind the scenes contributes, even in a small way, to something that has an impact on people is very rewarding.
Looking further ahead, I would like to bring everything I have learned through my studies, travels and professional experiences back to my home region in northern Spain. One of the things I have become increasingly aware of is how easily development can become associated with becoming more similar to one another. I believe there is value in protecting the traditions, knowledge and ways of seeing the world that make each place unique, rather than assuming that there is one model of development that everyone should follow.
I would like to contribute to the development of my own region in a way that is rooted in its identity and its particular way of seeing the world. In a way, I think that brings me back to one of the biggest lessons I took from GDS: development does not have to mean becoming part of the same current. It can also mean finding our own way forward.
What is your fondest memory from your time here in Maastricht as a student at FASoS?
I don’t know if I would call it my “fondest” memory, but it is definitely one of the moments from my time at FASoS that I will never forget.
I remember sitting in my room reading one of the articles before Timo’s class. I believe it was an article by Arturo Escobar about the pluriverse. When we discussed the reading in class, I wanted to participate, but I suddenly started crying. I couldn’t really explain why at the time. I think it was a kind of catharsis, a moment when something just clicked.
It was a strange and emotional moment of deconstruction. I realised that some of the things I had always considered to be universal were actually shaped by my own culture, experiences and assumptions. I couldn’t put it into words at the time—I just remember sitting there and feeling that something in the way I understood the world had changed.
Looking back, I think that moment captures what I valued most about my time at FASoS. I came to Maastricht expecting to learn more about development, but I didn’t expect the programme to make me question the foundations of what I thought I already knew.