CV overview

Key references

Photo by Ivana Čapeta Rakić

Teaching record

Research

Teaching

University management

Advisory bodies

 

Career summary

M. Elena Díez Jorge studied at the University of Granada, Spain, and the Università degli Studi di Pisa, Italy. She obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography and History, with a specialization in History of Art, receiving a special prize to the best academic record. She also ranked #1 of her class. She obtained a grant for the training of research faculty from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science for the period 1995-1998. She obtained a PhD in 1998 from the University of Granada with her dissertation La conflictividad en el arte mudéjar [Conflict in Mudejar art] and was granted the “cum laude” distinction and the Extraordinary PhD Prize. She is currently Professor of History of Art of the Department of History of Art. She is also a founding member of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies of the University of Granada (Instituto de la Paz y los Conflictos).

She is a specialist in Mudejar art and has mainly conducted her studies through the analysis of processes of multiculturalism. This research has led to several books such as El Palacio islámico de la Alhambra. Propuestas para una lectura multicultural [The Islamic palace of the Alhambra. Proposals for a multicultural interpretation] (1998); El arte mudéjar. Expresión estética de una convivencia [Mudejar art. The aesthetic expression of a coexistence] (2001). Her efforts to combine studies on Al-Andalus with those of the Christian kingdoms led to the scientific edition of the book La casa medieval en la península ibérica [The medieval house in the Iberian Peninsula] (2015) and De puertas para adentro. La casa en los siglos XV y XVI [Behind closed doors. The house in the 15th and 16th centuries] (2019).

With Mudejar art as a starting point, she has performed many analyses and published many works on the Alhambra. Some of them should be highlighted because they bring research closer to society in general. Such is the case of La Alhambra y el Generalife. Guía histórico-artística [The Alhambra and Generalife. An historic-artistic guide] (2006). In this publication, she tried to revive the tradition of guides as a genre of for the dissemination of knowledge. Because of her expertise in certain aspects of the Alhambra complex, she has led several projects with the Board of the Alhambra and the Generalife, with a special interest in the Alhambra’s architectural ceramics during various historic periods (2016-2021). This research has led to the scientific edition of the book Hecha de barro y vestida de color  [Made of clay and dressed in colour. Architectural ceramics in the Alhambra] (2022). 

She has also shown a special dedication to Women’s History, leading several research projects on this subject. This research has mainly focused on two areas: she highlights the role of women in architecture in past periods of history, for example, in her book Mujeres y arquitectura: cristianas y mudéjares en la construcción [Women and architecture: Christian and Mudejar women in construction] (2011) and in collective monographs such as Arquitectura y Mujeres en la Historia [Architecture and women in history] (2015). She also explores the role of women and peace in books such as Las mujeres y la paz: génesis y evolución de conceptualizaciones, símbolos y prácticas [Women and peace: the genesis and evolution of conceptualizations, symbols and practices] (2004), of which she is a co-author, and in the scientific edition of Género y paz [Gender and peace] (2010); her most recent book on the subject is Las mujeres y los discursos de paz en la historia [Women and Discourses on Peace through History] (2023). 

She has directed many research projects (Grant)  on these topics at European and Spanish regional and national level.

This research career has been reflected in her teaching. She teaches subjects on Mudejar art and multiculturalism and also on women’s history at undergraduate and graduate level. She promoted the inclusion for the first time of a course on women and architecture at the graduate level and later of a specific subject on art and gender in the bachelor’s degree in History of Art that she still teaches today.

Transfer of knowledge and science outreach are important aspects in her career. She has directed over twenty seminars and international conferences on various topics, always linked to the context of Mudejar art and its relationship with the Christian kingdoms and Al-Andalus, women and architecture and peace and gender studies. In recent years, she has paid special attention to the house and its trousseaux in the 15th and 16th centuries.

In the interest of transferring knowledge to society, she has supervised and provided advice for several routes and itineraries related to women such as Antequera con nombre de mujeres: itinerarios por la ciudad [Antequera with the name of women: itineraries around town] (2013) and Ruta de mujeres zubienses en la historia [Route of women from La Zubia in history] (2015) and specialized visits such as Mujeres en el patrimonio de la Universidad [Women in the heritage of the university] (2016). She has also curated several exhibitions including Artistas por la Paz [Artists for peace] (Granada, Castellon 2000), La Granada del XVII. Arte y cultura en la época de Alonso Cano [17th-century Granada. Art and culture in the time of Alonso Cano] (Granada, 2002) and De puertas para adentro. Vida y distribución de espacios en la arquitectura doméstica, siglos XV-XVI [Behind closed doors. Life and the distribution of spaces in domestic architecture] (Malaga, Toledo, 2017-2018).

It is worth highlighting her numerous contributions to several Spanish and European projects on heritage,both regarding the making of inventories and the coordination and dissemination of heritage, with several publications on university heritage.  She coordinated a European project on the heritage of European universities under the Raphael program (1999-2002). From 2008 to 2017 she codirected the PhD program Gestión y conservación del patrimonio [Management and conservation of heritage], taught in Havana, Cuba; she later coordinated a graduate course in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, until 2019.     

Among other relevant aspects related to heritage, she has been the Director of the University of Granada’s Secretariat for Heritage (2001-2003) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Heritage, Infrastructure and Equipment of the University of Granada (2004-2008). When she was a Vice-Chancellor, the primary goal was to visualize the rich and varied heritage that the University of Granada possesses. She initiated restoration tasks and raised awareness within the university community about the need to respect this heritage. For the first time, the inventory of movable assets, as well the scientific inventory, was completed. The catalogue was digitized, in addition to being published in several paper volumes. A campaign for preventive conservation tasks was launched, and a major exhibition featuring the principal masterpieces was organized. In the field of real estate heritage, aside from publications aimed at revealing the historical and stylistic significance of the buildings, guided tours were organized for both the university community and the general public. Restoration projects for emblematic buildings such as the Madrasah and the master plan for the Royal Hospital were initiated. On the contemporary architecture front, an international ideas competition for the Health Campus took place, attracting submissions from some of the most renowned global architectural firms. 

She has delivered lectures in Spain and abroad (e.g., United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, Colombia, Mexico, Morocco, Argentina, Algeria) and lectured in foreign universities (University of Toluca, Mexico; University of Nantes, France; National University of Tres de Febrero in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Universidad degli Studi di Pisa, Italy; University of Havana, Cuba; University of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia). She has undertaken various international research stays lasting more than a month (the most recent one at Università di Roma Tor Vergata, 2024).

To date, she has supervised fifteen PhD theses on various subjects that mainly involve architecture and women, domestic and religious architecture in the late Middle Ages and early modern times and gender and peace. She has been the coordinator of several grants for the training of research faculty – seven so far – and also student research collaboration grants. She has supervised over fifty dissertations and Master’s theses and more than twenty undergraduate theses.

She is a member of several committees and advisory boards such as the Scientific Committee of the Center for Mudejar Studies of the Provincial Government of Teruel, Spain, a member of the International Advisory Council of the Peace History Society (USA) and a member of the governing board of the Center of Historic Studies on Granada and its Kingdom. She has been a member of the governing council of the Observatory of School Coexistence in Andalusia (2007-2013) and the Chair of the Andalusian Property Commission (2011-2013). She is a full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antequera, Spain. She is also a member of the unit associated to the Spanish Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) called Patrimonio cultural árabe e islámico [Arab and Islamic cultural heritage] (2016-2019); her membership has been renewed until 2023. Researcher of the "science in the Alhambra" (Excellence Unit at UGR, 2028-2022).

Apart from the special prizes obtained for her academic achievement and her doctoral thesis, she has received other awards for her research (Premio Puerta Andalucía, 2006) and for her role as Vice-Chancellor for Heritage of the University of Granada (Premio Albayzín, 2006).