Student Explores Spain, Its Poets, and Academia

from the
THE HARVARD COLLEGE
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROGRAMS NEWSLETTER
February 1999

Magdalena Edwards '99 was born in Chile and learned Spanish as her first language, but she has lived in the United States since she was an infant. Acculturation came quickly, and she was soon achieving at the level that would one day lead her to Harvard. Still, she has always felt a visceral attraction to the language and literature of Latin America and Spain. "Maybe it is in my blood," she says. At Harvard, Magdalena is pursuing her literary interests with the help of the Mellon/Mentored Scholars Minority Undergraduate Fellowship Program. Citing a "striking imbalance" between the current numbers of minority professors and students, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation launched the program in 1989 to increase diversity on college faculties by encouraging talented minority students to earn Ph.D.s and pursue careers as professors.

The Foundation supports similar programs at a number of select colleges and universities nationwide. (See the list of participating institutions on page 6.) The program provides its participants with a generous stipend, allowing students to devote time to academic pursuits that they might otherwise have spent on part-time jobs. For Magdalena, this freedom meant an opportunity for academic exploration outside of her Social Studies concentration. "I've been able to connect further with the literature and history of Spain, and in turn begin to understand the effects Spain has had on Latin American and the links that still exist between the two regions," she says. "Without the Mellon experience I doubt I could have explored my interests in literature in such depth." Students on the program work closely with faculty members of their choice. They are given opportunities to engage in research and other facets of academic life under the guidance of their mentors, getting a chance to learn first-hand about life as a professor.

Magdalena began working with Professor Mary Gaylord of the Romance Languages & Literatures Department last year. The two drew up an ambitious plan of study, and have met weekly ever since to explore Spanish lyric poetry from medieval to modern times. "Prof. Gaylord and I have an exceptional relationship as friends and intellectual partners," says Magdalena. "We have spent a lot of time analyzing particular texts together, or exchanging ideas about our own close readings of these texts."

With assistance from Prof. Gaylord, Magdalena spent last spring readying for a trip to Spain. She hoped to gain a better understanding of the country whose poets she'd grown to feel were intimate acquaintances. Magdalena decided to take an impressionistic approach to her research. "Rather than conducting research in a specific library or institute, I chose to seek out the various landscapes about which I'd been reading and visit museums and other important historic and literary sites," she says.

With support from the Mellon Program, Magdalena flew to Madrid in late May and spent six nomadic weeks traveling through Spain, Morocco, and Portugal. Her trip was a great success. "It was an incredibly exciting time to be in Spain," Magdalena reports, "with the 100th anniversary of Frederico Garcia Lorca's birth and the opening of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. These events meant that Spanish cities were teeming with special cultural events, museum exhibits, and conferences.

"My research allowed me to make a gigantic leap in my understanding of Spain," she continues, "as well as Latin America in terms of language, culture, society, and national identity. Most importantly, I had the opportunity to breathe and speak in Spain. I had a phenomenal experience."

Her trip also confirmed her interest in pursuing graduate work in Spanish literature, with an emphasis on Latin American poetry and translation. "I now realize how important the Spanish language is-and will be-in my life on a personal, intellectual, and professional level."

This past fall, Magdalena resumed her meetings with Prof. Gaylord. Of late, their relationship has even grown reciprocal. "I xerox passages and poetry from texts that I am reading and leave them in her box," Magdalena says. "When we meet, we have specific material to discuss and I lead the initial discussion since I have picked the passages. Obviously Professor Gaylord's knowledge and wisdom enrich and challenge the observations I make, but we have conversations as opposed to teaching sessions."

Magdalena's research has led her to an important revelation as she considers a career in academia. "I now realize that the opportunity to bridge worlds as a bi-cultural person allows me a certain academic perspective," she says, "and a dual vantage point from which to develop argumentation and research." It is, as she puts it, in her blood.

--John Marchetti