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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: September 16, 2020 at 8:23:54 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-LatAm]: Hagler on Murray and Tsuchiya, 'Unsettling > Colonialism: Gender and Race in the Nineteenth-Century Global Hispanic World' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > N. Michelle Murray, Akiko Tsuchiya, eds. Unsettling Colonialism: > Gender and Race in the Nineteenth-Century Global Hispanic World. > SUNY Series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture. Albany > State University of New York Press, 2019. 302 pp. $32.95 (e-book), > ISBN 978-1-4384-7647-6; $95.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4384-7645-2. > > Reviewed by Anderson Hagler (Duke University) > Published on H-LatAm (September, 2020) > Commissioned by Casey M. Lurtz > > In their introduction, N. Michelle Murray and Akiko Tsuchiya note > that _Unsettling Colonialism_ probes the "entanglements of gender and > race" as they relate to Spanish imperialism in the Iberian world, > which has, heretofore, received scant attention from scholars of > feminist postcolonial studies (p. 1). The contributors to this volume > examine the ways European men and women exploited, used, and > justified Spain's colonial enterprises in far-flung places, such as > Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, and the Philippines. Several of the essays > show how women were directly engaged in Spain's colonizing mission > and complicit in sustaining imperialist ideologies. These authors > demonstrate how colonial discourses elevated whiteness and championed > racial purity amid metropolitan fears of miscegenation. Several of > the authors consider the role of women in both the domestic and > public spheres as Spain fretted about its dwindling hold on overseas > territories in the nineteenth century. > > The volume is divided into three thematic sections. Part 1, > "Colonialism and Women's Migrations," considers how women personified > Spain's imperial schemes either as exploited laborers or as knowledge > producers who sustained colonization. Benita Sampedro Vizcaya opens > the book with her chapter, "The Colonial Politics of Meteorology: The > West African Expedition of the Urquiola Sisters." Vizcaya underscores > the silencing and reappropriation of Manuela and Isabel Urquiola's > scientific efforts as Spain expanded its hold in Equatorial Guinea. > Unfortunately for the Urquiola sisters, Manuel Iradier Bulfy, the > famous explorer, personally benefited from the meteorological data > gathered by Manuela and Isabel, allowing him to tour the country as a > hero and lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in Madrid. > Although Vizcaya reveals that European men and women joined forces to > sustain imperialism, she also notes that the recovery of women, such > as the Urquiola sisters, foregrounds white/Iberian forms of knowledge > production over indigenous epistemologies. The efforts of locals who > guided explorers, missionaries, and other Iberians in their homelands > remain obscured. > > In chapter 2, Lisa Surwillo illuminates how travel narratives > contributed to the ideology of Hispanism and its cultural > neoimperialism in Cuba. In "Eva Canel and the Gender of Hispanism," > Surwillo examines Canel's _Lo que vi en Cuba, a través de la isla_ > (1916), which claimed to convey Cubans' feelings toward Spain > following independence. Canel interpreted the warm welcome that she > personally received as a metonymical acceptance of Spain itself. > Canel thus projected her fantasy of a unified empire onto the newly > independent island nation. > > Surwillo delves into the contradictory nature of Canel who, despite > her presence in the public sphere, championed traditional gender > roles for women as wives and mothers. Surwillo also highlights > Canel's idealistic, perhaps naïve, approach to race, noting that > Canel believed Hispanism was not racist as it provided women of color > "a sentimental and aesthetic framework with which to articulate their > place in society" (p. 71). Ultimately, Canel hoped her writings would > revitalize Cubans' identification with the motherland and prevent > emigrants from becoming Americanized. Yet, as Surwillo shows, Canel's > equivocal place in Spain's canon stems from the fact that "neither > side of the Atlantic has claimed her" (p. 77). > > Tsuchiya's contribution in chapter 3, "Gender, Race, and Spain's > Colonial Legacy in the Americas: Representations of White Slavery in > Eugenio Flores's _Trata de blancas_ and Eduardo López Bago's _Carne > importada_," highlights sex trafficking in the late nineteenth > century as the Spanish nation lost a significant sector of its > population from the impoverished regions of Galicia, Asturias, and > Cantabria. Mass migrations to the Americas sparked fears among > metropolitan elites about racial degeneration and gender roles, > making women and their bodies the focus of medical interventions and > social surveillance. The literary works examined in this chapter > reveal that metropolitan men fetishized the sexual exploitation and > violence of women for the "purpose of social critique and political > denunciation" (p. 95). These male writers' denunciations of sexual > commerce reduced the figure of the prostitute to a trope of otherness > while critiquing capitalism and fretting about the loss of empire. > > Part 2, "Race, Performance, and Colonial Ideologies," considers how > fin-de-siècle literature constructed race. In chapter 4, "A Black > Woman Called _Blanca la extranjera_ in Faustina Sáez de Melgar's > _Los miserables_ (1862-63)," Ana Mateos explores how the body relates > to women and slavery through Melgar's protagonist Alejandrina, a > woman who uses blackface to disguise herself while she investigates > her parents' murder. Despite Alejandrina's empathy toward the > enslaved, Mateos shows that _Los miserables_'s proto-feminist and > abolitionist stance actually conformed to patriarchal social norms. > Although Alejandrina employed philanthropy to improve the living > conditions of Madrid's poor, her status as a noblewoman validates, > rather than undermines, the colonization of the Americas. Mateos > illuminates how Alejandrina perpetuated contemporary notions of > female respectability and maintained a sociopolitical hierarchy that > elevated whites above peoples of color. > > In chapter 5, Mar Soria analyzes the comical staging of blackface > through the genre known as _género chico_--mass produced one-and > two-act plays--which reified Spain's cultural superiority over its > colonies. Consequently, "Colonial Imaginings on the Stage: Blackface, > Gender, and the Economics of Empire in Spanish and Catalan Popular > Theater" brings to light how blackface mocked nonwhite peoples. The > racial demographics of Cuba so worried metropolitans precisely > because the island was an important source of wealth. Soria makes a > significant intervention by demonstrating the role that Catalan > merchants and playwrights had in perpetuating the transatlantic slave > trade. Soria notes that the comedy _Las Carolinas _(1886) written by > Antoni Ferrer i Codina--one of the first authors to bring _género > chico_ to Catalan--echoed Spanish conservative opinions, "which > considered antislavery supporters unpatriotic and at the service of > foreign interests" (p. 142). Spanish playwrights thus employed > _género chico_ to justify colonization, reinforcing their sense of > self, nationhood, and imperial pride. > > The four essays that comprise part 3, "Gender and Colonialism in > Literary and Political Debates," further explore the gender dynamics > of imperial and colonial discourses. In chapter 6, "Becoming Useless: > Masculinity, Able-Bodiedness, and Empire in Nineteenth-Century > Spain," Julia Chang considers how Spanish soldiers functioned as an > extension of imperial power. The discursive side of military > recruitment shaped notions of masculine utility and beauty. Building > on feminist and queer scholarship, as well as Michel Foucault's > theories of biopower and disciplinary bodies, Chang illuminates how > the Spanish military produced both the oppressor and the oppressed as > the overriding concern for military conscription was to enlist > beautiful, able-bodied men. Indeed, Chang breaks new ground in > Iberian studies by juxtaposing _útil_ with _inútil_, destabilizing > the corporeal fixity of Spanish colonizers. > > Chapter 7, "From Imperial Boots to Naked Feet: Clarín's Views on > Cuban Freedom and Female Independence in _La Regenta_," written by > Nuria Godón, examines the discourses of colonialism and domination > in Leopoldo Alas's _La Regenta_ (1884-85). Alas, also known as > Clarín, did not wish for an entirely independent Cuba. Instead, > Clarín favored autonomy from Spain similar to that already > established in Galicia and Catalonia. Godón emphasizes Clarín's > moderate, rather than revolutionary, stance on Cuban women. Although > Clarín defended women's autonomy and their right to marry for love, > he rejected the total emancipation of women. By connecting familial > honor to the nation, Clarín reinforced a common patriarchal paradigm > that linked honor to political and sexual conquest. > > Joyce Tolliver's fascinating essay in chapter 8, "_Dalagas_ and > _Ilustrados_: Gender, Language, and Indigeneity in the Philippine > Colonies," examines a tense period of transition in the Philippines > as the nation gained independence from Spain only to be dominated by > another foreign power--the United States. Tolliver combines her > analysis of José Rizal's letter, "Message to the Young Women of > Malolos" (1889) with that of Pedro Paterno's tale, "La dalaga > virtuosa" (1910), to show how idealized notions of indigeneity and > sexual purity excluded Filipina women from the public sphere. In > December 1888, a group of twenty young women from the city of Malolos > petitioned the governor general to establish a Spanish-language > school for women in their town. By petitioning the governor general > directly, these women bypassed the friar curates who, until then, had > maintained "iron control over the colonized peoples of the > Philippines" (p. 233). In response to this petition, José Rizal > (1861-96), the polyglot physician and martyred national hero, wrote > an open letter in Tagalog to the women, attaching their pleas for > education to his own cause. Tolliver shows that the decision to write > in Tagalog rather than Spanish placed Rizal in the same position of > authority as the friars, transforming these Filipinas into passive > recipients of Rizal's wisdom. Similarly, Paterno wrote morality tales > that emphasized the need to control women's sexuality. In "La dalaga > virtuosa," a beautiful maiden is rewarded for renouncing her sexual > desire, implying that all Filipinas should follow her example. > Because he dedicated his collection to schools in Manila, Paterno > presented himself as a benevolent source of moral guidance. In sum, > Tolliver compares the Philippine national hero with the nation's > antihero, demonstrating that both icons didactically constructed > foundational fictions of female purity. > > In chapter 9, "The Spanish Carceral Archipelago: Concepción Arenal > against Penitentiary Colonization," Aurélie Vialette illuminates how > penal colonies were intended to save the Spanish Empire from complete > dissolution. Building on Foucault's theory of biopower and Giorgio > Agamben's spaces of exception, Vialette argues that overseas penal > colonies merely created the illusion of rehabilitation. The metropole > never intended for these convicts-cum-citizens to return to Iberia. > Vialette's inclusion of Concepción Arenal, a Galician lawyer and > anthropologist who railed against the establishment of penal > colonies, reveals "how a woman could participate in the legal debates > connecting prison reform and neocolonial movements to keep the > Spanish empire alive" (p. 258). The role of redemption was of utmost > importance because the rehabilitation that, supposedly, occurred in > the penal colony facilitated the rebirth of Spain's colonial power. > That Arenal's critique was taken seriously by her contemporaries > shows how a woman, in a field otherwise dominated by men, > participated in legal debates regarding prison reform and the state > of the Spanish Empire. > > The delightful contributions that comprise _Unsettling Colonialism_ > reveal the complex gender and racial dynamics of Spain's overseas > enterprises as the nation faced staggering imperial losses. The > authors' analyses of women and colonized subjects in literary, > historical, and cultural narratives unsettles colonialism by exposing > how marginalized individuals identified potential spaces of > resistance within the prevailing discourses of imperial expansion. > Readers of this engaging anthology will benefit from a greater > awareness of the legacies of the Spanish Empire within the > nineteenth-century Hispanic world. > > Citation: Anderson Hagler. Review of Murray, N. Michelle; Tsuchiya, > Akiko, eds., _Unsettling Colonialism: Gender and Race in the > Nineteenth-Century Global Hispanic World_. H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. > September, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55400 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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