When Magdalena Edwards spent last spring readying for a trip to Spain, she 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." Photo by Kris Snibbe.

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 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, Edwards 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 minority 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 selected colleges and universities nationwide.

The program provides its participants with a generous stipend, allowing students to devote time to academic pursuits, time they might otherwise have spent on part-time jobs. For Edwards, 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 America 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 in 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, effectively getting a chance to learn first-hand about life as a professor.

Last year Edwards began working with Mary Gaylord, professor of Romance languages and literatures. 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. "Professor Gaylord and I have an exceptional relationship as friends and intellectual partners," says Edwards. "We have spent a lot of time analyzing particular texts together and exchanging ideas about our own close readings of these texts."

With assistance from her mentor, Edwards 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, and she 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," Edwards says.

With support from the Mellon Program, Edwards 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," Edwards 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 as well as Latin America, in terms of language, culture, society, and national identity," she continues. "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, Edwards resumed her meetings with Gaylord. Of late, their relationship has even grown reciprocal. "I copy passages and poetry from texts that I am reading and leave them in her box," Edwards 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."

Currently, Edwards is working with undergraduate and graduate students putting together the first issue of a new campus magazine called ZALACAIN, A Harvard Review of Hispanic/Latin American Literature and Culture. The review is calling for submissions until March 26.

Edwards' 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 bicultural 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.