Maternal Landscapes: An Answer to the Problem of Women’s Education in Colonial Mexico

• Juan Manuel Ramírez Velázquez ^[1]
  1. [1] Washington University in St Louis
• Localización: Bulletin of Spanish Studies, ISSN-e 1478-3428, ISSN 1475-3820, Vol. 100, Nº 1, 2023, págs. 101-126
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In Sor Juana’s Respuesta a Sor Filotea (1691), she advocates for the education of women in colonial Mexico through emphasizing the figure of mothers as educators. I contend that Sor Juana uses the figure of the mother and maternal spaces to promote a more inclusive education system for women, enabling the pursuit of higher education, traditionally a male domain. Furthermore, by advancing this inclusivity, Sor Juana criticizes the idea that a mother’s role was solely to give birth. Ultimately, this article shows how Sor Juana reconceptualizes motherhood and femininity as an essential means of transmission and reproduction of culture.