Javier Irigoyen-García

Javier Irigoyen-García serves as Professor and Associate Head in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with cross-appointments in Jewish Culture and Society, the European Union Center, South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Education:

• PhD in Romance Languages, University of Pennsylvania
• MA in Spanish, University of Colorado at Boulder
• BA in Hispanic Philology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

His research centers on Early Modern Iberian Literature and Culture, examining how race, ethnicity, and class were represented through pastoral discourse, clothing practices, and literary narratives in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain. Key contributions include analyzing sheep herding's role in nation-building and Moorish attire as social distinction markers, revealing intersections of ethnicity with power structures.

Publications since 2013 demonstrate sustained focus on ethnic identity in early modern Iberia, with recurring themes of Morisco expulsion, gendered cultural representation, and Muslim perspectives on Spanish festive culture. His work bridges literary criticism, cultural history, and religious studies through analyses of canonical texts like Don Quixote and marginalized voices like María de Zayas.

Scientific Awards:

• Conrad Humanities Scholar (2016-2021)
• Helen Corley Petit Scholar (2014-2015)

No details on student advising or grant funding are provided in available sources. Current research explores insults as political tools in Spanish collective identity formation through the "Utopias of Infamy" project.

Collaborative work includes co-authoring "The dialectics of orientalism in early modern europe" (2017), indicating engagement with transnational research networks despite no formal lab affiliations being documented.