Author Archives: Dr. Rebecca Bender

About Dr. Rebecca Bender

Spanish professor

Maternity and Madrid: Gendered Spaces in La rampa (1917)

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

I have officially decided that September is the fastest-moving, shortest month of the (academic) year. It flies by quicker than winter break. One day you are rather calmly introducing the course syllabus and getting to know new students… the next … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Literature, Modernity, Science and Medicine, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, Carmen de Burgos, gender, literature, madrid, maternity, motherhood, Spain, urban studies | 10 Comments

Santa Muerte, the Alluring and Controversial Folk Saint of Death

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

While the Virgin of Guadalupe is perhaps the most iconic and ubiquitous of Mexican Catholic imagery, Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, is quickly becoming a powerful cultural force herself. Though Santa Muerte is not an officially sanctioned saint, having been … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, US Southwest | Tagged catholicism, crime, culture, death, La virgen de Guadalupe, LGBT, Mexico, narcoculture, queer, religion, santa muerte | 8 Comments

“Fun” with Academic Publishing: Wordle, Coffee, and Pedagogy

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

As any professor, graduate student, or postdoc knows, publishing an article in an academic journal is not a particularly enjoyable process… and it can take months, if not years, to see your article in print once accepted and revised. Knowing … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, First-wave spanish feminism, Literature, Pedagogy, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, academia, Feminism, first-wave spanish feminism, gender, language, literature, Margarita Nelken, maternity, motherhood, pedagogy, spanish literature, teaching, women, Word Cloud | Leave a comment

Highlights from Spain… as summer vacation comes to an end :(

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

I realized I haven’t yet written a post for the month of July, and the fact that August is only days away is a bit terrifying! I must say, however, that I have had a nice balance of “work” and … Continue reading →

Posted in Spain | Tagged asturias, food, galicia, madrid, oviedo, photography, Santiago de Compostela, segovia, Spain, spanish, travel | 5 Comments

Pedro Almodovar’s “La piel que habito”: Science and Technology as Postmodern Mediums

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

I feel very lucky to have been able to spend the month of June in Spain, first in Madrid for nearly 3 weeks (with a day trip to Segovia), then in Santiago de Compostela for a few days during a … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Science and Medicine, Spain, Women | Tagged art, femininity, film, gender, La piel que habito, madrid, medicine, Pedro Almodovar, postmodernism, prado, pseudoscience, Santiago de Compostela, science, technology, Titian, velazquez, Venus | 4 Comments

Breastfeeding in the Prado: Religious, Mythological, and Pagan Roots

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Don’t worry! This isn’t a too-much-information personal anecdote… just some observations I made regarding the very frequent and detailed depictions of breastfeeding in the artwork gracing the Prado’s walls. Having initially visited Madrid’s Museo del Prado in 2001 for my … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Spain, Women | Tagged art, breastfeeding, catholicism, madrid, maternity, motherhood, museo del prado, Rubens, Spain, spanish art, velazquez, virgin mary | 10 Comments

Bicycles, typewriters, and sex!?!? Cultures of the Erotic in early 20th Century Spain

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Among the many articles and books I consulted for my last article on La Venus mecánica, Maite Zubiaurre’s Cultures of the Erotic in Spain, 1898-1939 (from Vanderbilt UP, 2012) was by far my favorite. Not only does Prof. Zubiaurre‘s monograph … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Literature, Modernity, Spain | Tagged 1920s, art, books, erotica, Eugenics, gender, Hildegart Rodríguez, literature, madrid, modernity, pseudoscience, sex, sexuality, Spain, spanish art, spanish literature | 6 Comments

La Llorona: Incorporating Latino Studies into Hispanic Literature

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

If you grew up in the southwest United States, if you can claim Hispanic heritage, or if you’ve lived in a community with a distinct Hispanic population, you are likely quite familiar with the numerous legends of “La Llorona” (The … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Feminism, Literature, Pedagogy, US Southwest, Women | Tagged art, catholicism, children, femininity, Feminism, first-wave spanish feminism, gender, gender ideology, infanticide, La llorona, La Malinche, La virgen de Guadalupe, language, Latino literature, latino studies, legends, literature, Mexico, motherhood, myth, pedagogy, Sandra Cisneros, teaching, teaching spanish, Virgin of Guadalupe | 11 Comments

The Morphing Body: Salvador Dalí’s Skulls and the Female Form

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

I’m currently working on an article that revolves around theories of corporeality and the body, so I’ve been reading a range of feminist interpretations of the subject: Elizabeth Grosz‘s challenge to mind/body dualism by way of the Moebius strip paradigm; … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Modernity, Spain, Surrealism, Women | Tagged 1950s, art, body, Dalí, femininity, gender, modernity, nudes, photography, Salvador Dali, sex, sexuality, STDs, surrealism, venereal disease, women, World War II | 23 Comments

Murderous Mothers and the Discourse of Infanticide

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

This post is admittedly a slightly odd compilation of images and ideas – It seems that over the past several months I’ve been researching or teaching about murderous mothers in literature, film, history, and popular culture: from the assassination of … Continue reading →