Category Archives: History

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

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 →

Posted in Art, History, Women | Tagged art, Aurora Rodriguez, catholicism, children, culture, domesticity, Family Planning, Feminism, gender ideology, goya, infanticide, italy, La llorona, maternity, medical history, motherhood, Rubens, spanish art, women | 3 Comments

The Red Virgin: Motherhood and Power Dynamics

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

“I shall do as you request, and tell you everything about myself […] You may like me, but I am not alive.” –Hildegarte, played by Ivana Baquero in The Red Virgin “I will do as you ask and tell you … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, First-wave spanish feminism, History, Pedagogy, Science and Medicine, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, Aurora Rodriguez, Birth Control, books, Eugenics, Family Planning, film, first-wave spanish feminism, Gregorio Marañon, Havelock Ellis, Hildegart Rodríguez, madrid, maternity, medical history, motherhood, pedagogy, Red Virgin, sexuality, Spain, teaching spanish, women | 7 Comments

Pretty Women Use Birth Control – my guest post at Nursing Clio

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

I’m very excited to have written a guest post for one of my favorite blogs, Nursing Clio. For this piece, I re-visited my very first blog post in which I critiqued, with a sort of “literary analysis” approach, the function … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Science and Medicine, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, Birth Control, Eugenics, Family Planning, first-wave spanish feminism, gender, Marañón, maternity, medical history, Nursing Clio, pseudoscience, Spain, spanish, women | 1 Comment

Exploring Female Identities in Carmen de Burgos’ “La rampa”

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

One of the first novels to spark my interest in early twentieth-century Spanish women’s literature was Carmen de Burgos’ La rampa (1917). As an urban novel, the narrative explores the effects of modernity not only on the residents of and … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, First-wave spanish feminism, History, Literature, Modernity, Pedagogy, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, art, books, Carmen de Burgos, city, culture, femininity, Feminism, first-wave spanish feminism, gender, La rampa, literature, madrid, maternity, modernity, motherhood, pedagogy, Spain, spanish, spanish literature, teaching, teaching spanish, urban studies, women | 16 Comments

Sunday Morning Medicine

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

If you’re interested in the history of gender and medicine, check out the Nursing Clio blog. Written by several historians, the excellent articles tie historical scholarship to present-day political, social, and cultural issues surrounding gender and medicine (per mission statement). … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Science and Medicine, Women | Tagged culture, gender | 2 Comments

The Perfect Wife in the 21st century: “La perfecta casada” en el siglo XXI

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Now that February is suddenly here, the Spring 2014 semester is officially underway and I am finally organized (well, for the most part!). For me, the most exciting part about this new semester is that I’m teaching a course I … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, History, Literature, Pedagogy, Spain, Women | Tagged angel del hogar, catholicism, culture, femininity, Feminism, feminists, Fray Luis de León, gender, la perfecta casada, language, marriage, maternity, motherhood, pedagogy, perfect wife, Spain, spanish, spanish civil war, spanish literature, teaching, women | 10 Comments

The Roaring Twenties, Metropolitan Citizens, and… LOUD NOISES!

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

As early twentieth-century cities were experiencing rapid modernization, many intellectuals dedicated space in their writing to praising or critiquing not only these urban landscapes, but also the new mentality and behavior that they required of inhabitants. These themes were especially … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Modernity | Tagged 1920s, aural history, blase, city, digital humanities, history, madrid, metropolis, modernity, new york city, simmel, sonic culture, urban studies | 2 Comments

Painting the Spanish Civil War

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

(For more information, see my more recent post with details on teaching Guernica in conjunction with Vicente Aleixandre’s poem “Oda a los niños de Madrid muertos por la metralla”, Dec. 2015). In my (Spanish) Introduction to Textual Analysis course, my … Continue reading →