Space available for AUT2020
CHSTU 255 A -- Mexican Women: Past and Present
SLN: 12696
M/W 10:30-12:20
5 credits / I&S, DIV
Instructor: Monica Cortés Viharo
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a 17th-century Mexican nun, was the first playwright in the Americas and author of La Respuesta, the first Latina feminist treatise. As the illegitimate daughter of a Spanish captain born and raised in “New Spain” (Mexico), her writings, in Latin, Spanish, and Nahuatl, express the multilingual and multicultural reality of being a Mexican woman.
By examining her life and work and those of female-identified and gender non-conforming Mexicanas who came before and after her, this course explores how they have shaped and been shaped by the social, political, religious, cultural, spiritual aspects of their nation. Utilizing art, imagery, and texts, including Elizabeth Martiìnez’ 500 Years of Chicana Women's History (2008), this survey of women in Mexican society from Meso-American times to the 1940s explores female-centered stories of the familiar (soldaderas), the famous (Frida Khalo), and the infamous (La Malinche).