Portillo Focuses on Spanish History, Culture

Assistant Professor of Spanish Isabel Jaen-Portillo thrives on the dynamism of language, culture, history, and literature.

Dr. Portillo is the newest tenure-track professor in the Foreign Language Department. She is fascinated by the history of different languages and cultures. As she learned more about the Spanish Enlightenment and philosophy in college, Dr. Portillo has developed great respect for the values of tolerance and learning about other cultures. She plans to share those values with her students at Wabash.

Dr. Portillo grew up in Madrid, Spain, in the aftermath of fascism and in the heart of a democratic awakening. She attended the University of Madrid and became interested in the history and culture of the Spanish Enlightenment, with figures such as "Jovellanos (a statesman, philosopher and writer who wanted to reform Spanish institutions and create a modern Spain in the 18th Century), Moratín (a dramatist and poet who wrote didactic theater in order to help educate the Spanish population), and Goya (the painter who denounced war and violence during the Napoleonic invasion of Spain).

Eventually, she decided to focus on philology, the study of the history and culture associated with different languages. She received her B.A. in English Philology in 1993.

Dr. Portillos spent the next year in London on a one-year exchange as a Language Teaching Assistant. She felt very comfortable in England but returned to Madrid in 1994 to begin her doctorate studies in Spanish Philology at the Universidad Complutense, where she focused Contemporary Poetry and Film.

"History is fascinating for me, especially in the 1920s and 1930," Portillo said. "The major cultural figures [of that time] were writer Federico Garcia Lorca, filmmaker Luis Buñuel, and painter Salvador Dalí, among others. They studied together in the ‘Residencia de Estudiantes,’ which was created in the context and values of the ‘Institución Libre de Enseñanza’ (Institute of Free Teaching). It’s the type of place where you go to study things that would make you a complete person – academics but also values like tolerance, critical thinking, and being interdisciplinary. This is the institution of which Wabash reminds me so much."

At the same time, Dr. Portillo taught literature, film, grammar, phonetics, culture and other subjects for American Programs Abroad. During the two years she was involved with the program, Dr. Portillo could be found running from the University Complutense to the National Library, teaching or giving tours to her students, performing at poetry gatherings, storytelling, or doing improv comedy.

Dr. Portillo moved to the United States in 1996. She enrolled at Purdue University, where she started her second Ph.D in Spanish Philology, with a focus on the Early Modern Literature and Cognitive Psychology.

"By going back to the Golden and Middle ages, I encountered fascinating disciplines like comparative literature," Portillo said. "It was fascinating being able to compare the [United] States with Spain or Germany and South America. There are so many connections."

Portillo developed an interest in cognitive literary theory, an attempt to explain how literature is processed in the mind. The goal is to understand how the brain follows literature, character interactions, and intentions. While she concedes the findings are in their infancy, Portillo believes the questions raised in the field are valid. The extent of the research involves technology such as brain scanning to examine the parts of the brain that are working as a person reads literature.

"One fascinating thing is how people actually process literature," Portillo said. "Is the ability to follow narrative an acquired trait or do we already have a literary mind? I really want to know what literature is about. Why are we so interested in stories? Why are we teaching literature in the 21^st century? And why are people so interested in reading about it?"

Portillo comes to Wabash from Yale University, where she taught Intermediate and Advanced Spanish for six years.  She has also contributed to Épocas y avances, an intermediate-to-advanced level textbook published by Yale University Press. It was released in January 2007 and uses aspects of the history, literature, art, society, geography, language, and culture of Spain and Latin America to improve understanding of the Spanish language.

Dr. Portillo heard of an open position at Wabash through the Modern Languages Association. Professors Brian Tucker, Gilberto Gómez and Greg Redding interviewed her for the position and later attended her talk "Didactic Narratives: Literary Characters and Human Learning Processes" at MLA Annual Conference in Philadelphia.

"I was looking for a tenure track job in the Midwest," Portillo said. "While researching [Wabash], I realized how much its nature and philosophy reminded me of the "Residencia de Estudiantes" at Madrid. Wabash stressed individualized learning and teacher-student interaction, so I thought that it would be a good fit. I enjoyed my campus visit and was impressed by the students and their genuine thirst for learning. I got great questions after my talk on Early Modern Literature and Psychology. I also knew that I would very much like to have Wabash faculty as colleagues. I especially liked their willingness to carry out interdisciplinary projects together."

Dr. Portillo plans to make her classes interdisciplinary as well – to mix history, culture, and language to make her classes as contextual as possible.  

"I really want to pass the values of critical thinking, creativity, tolerance, learning about other cultures and respecting others’ opinions on to my students. I think it will be good for the human condition. I want to teach as much as I can about Spanish history, culture, and language.’

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