Feminismo Y Nación En El Caribe Hispano, 1880-1940 a Disserta
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles En busca de la solidaridad: feminismo y nación en el Caribe hispano, 1880-1940 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures by Brenda Liz Ortiz-Loyola 2013 © Copyright by Brenda Liz Ortiz-Loyola 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION En busca de la solidaridad: feminismo y nación en el Caribe hispano, 1880-1940 by Brenda Liz Ortiz-Loyola Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Jorge Marturano, Co-Chair Professor Roberta L. Johnson, Co-Chair My dissertation delves into the interrelations between feminism and nationalism during periods of political, economic and social crisis associated with the influence of the United States over the Caribbean nations. I especially focus on the writings of Cubans Ofelia Rodríguez Acosta and Ofelia Domínguez, Puerto Ricans Ana Roqué, Carmela Eulate Sanjurjo, Luisa Capetillo, and Ricarda López, and Dominicans Ercilia Pepín, Abigaíl Mejía, Petronila Gómez, and Consuelo Montalvo. Although the metaphor of “motherhood” has been considered the most important concept in the discourses promoted by nationalist feminism, I argue that, in the context of the Caribbean region, the notion of solidarity provides an ideology that fits into the nationalist agenda, allowing feminists to engage in the political dialogue of the time. From the 1880s to the 1940s, feminist writers of the Hispanic Caribbean created literary works and published newspaper articles that proposed an idea of unity among women conceived initially to gain ii support for their feminist crusade, but that was afterwards broadened to plead for a national solidarity essential to ensure the future of their nations. To explain the development of the discourse of solidarity I first examine how the narrative structure and the relationship between female characters in short stories such as Carmela Eulate Sanjurjo’s “Marido y mujer” and “Noche-Buena,” and novels such as Ana Roqué’s Luz y sombra and Sara la obrera , Ofelia Rodríguez Acosta’s El triunfo de la débil presa and La vida manda , and Abigaíl Mejía’s Sueña Pilarín underscore the significance of an alliance among women or the disadvantages of its absence. Then, I analyze fiction and newspaper articles that deal with the colonial situation of Puerto Rico, the U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1916, and Gerardo Machado’s dictatorship in Cuba to explore how feminists endow their plea for female unity with nationalist overtones. I conclude that, using a multi-layered discourse, the nationalist feminists produced a vision of society in which the social and political empowerment of women was necessary to construct and uphold a cohesive nation capable of assuming its future as a modern, civilized and productive country. The image of a coherent nation integrated by its entire social and racial constituents allowed women to create a new rhetoric for political action and to elaborate their own definition of the nation, its members and themselves. iii The dissertation of Brenda Liz Ortiz-Loyola is approved. César J. Ayala Maarten H. van Delden María Teresa de Zubiaurre Roberta L. Johnson, Committee Co-Chair Jorge Marturano, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv DEDICATION A José R. Díaz Garayúa por recorrer junto a mí este largo camino. A mi familia por su apoyo incondicional. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Vita viii Introducción 1 Capítulo 1: Feminismo y política en Puerto Rico: la gran familia de mujeres 33 La mujer y la gran familia puertorriqueña 40 Creando la gran familia de mujeres: una solidaridad llena de contradicciones 45 La mujer trabajadora y la gran familia: crónica de una crisis 71 Feminismo y política: el fantasma del estatus 82 Capítulo 2: Todos en un frente único: las feministas y la política cubana 101 La utopía de la solidaridad femenina 109 Feminismo, regeneración moral y solidaridad nacional 131 La construcción del “frente único” 144 Las dificultades de la unidad nacional 159 Capítulo 3: Por nuestro bien y el de la patria: mujer y nación en la República 169 Dominicana Las mujeres y el anhelo de solidaridad nacional e internacional 176 Sentando las bases: de la solidaridad nacional a la femenina 197 La Acción Feminista Dominicana y el problema de la solidaridad femenina 216 Feminismo y nación: la neutralización del movimiento 222 Conclusión 236 Apéndice 245 Obras citadas 248 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have been possible without the support and thoughtful suggestions of my mentors: Professor Roberta Johnson and Professor Jorge Marturano. I am very grateful for their guidance, dedication and encouragement throughout my graduate career. I would also like to express my appreciation to the members of my dissertation committee for providing a stimulating atmosphere and for their comments. I am indebted to Samuel Bisonó for his assistance during my research in the Dominican Republic, to Abigail Mejía’s family for opening the doors of their home for me and to Yasnay Cuesta for her help in La Habana. I am especially grateful to Ylonka Nacidit Perdomo, Alejandro Paulino, Raymundo González, and Nancy Alonso for sharing with me their knowledge. I would like to thank Tamara Yanes and Abel Molina for giving me access to the library. I thank the Harry and Yvonne Lenart Foundation, the Faucett Family Foundation, the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and UCLA’s Graduate Division for the financial support provided to complete this work and the archival research. vii EDUCATION 2007 M.A. Spanish The University of Akron, Ohio 2003 Juris Doctor University of Puerto Rico, School of Law 1998 B.A. Public Communications University of Puerto Rico PUBLICATIONS “Mayra Santos-Febres and the Contemporary Puerto Rican Literature.” Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) – special issue titled: "In Spite of the Double Drawbacks: African American Women in History and Culture " (2012): 89-93. “Metatextualidad e identidad nacional en Linda Sara de Jacobo Morales” Colorado Review of Hispanic Studies 8 (2010): 81-95. PRESENTATIONS “The representation of the center and the periphery in the failed utopias of Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá.” Race, Ethnicity and Place Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 24-26 October 2012. “La representación de la familia nacional en el discurso político feminista en Puerto Rico y la República Dominicana.” AATSP Annual Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 7-10 July 2012. “The Quest for Female Solidarity in Puerto Rican Nineteenth-Century Women Writers.” XXXVII International Symposium of Hispanic Literature, California State University, Dominguez Hills. 8-9 March 2012. “El discurso nacional en Dolientes de Ofelia Rodríguez Acosta.” UC-Cuba Conference/Workshop, University of California, Irvine. 28-29 April 2011. “La educación de la mujer según Ana Roqué: el cuestionamiento del discurso masculino decimonónico en ‘Una lección de astronomía.’” 30 th Cincinnati Conference on Romance Languages and Literatures, Univ. of Cincinnati, Ohio. 7-9 May 2010. “Nuyoricans o isleños: la negociación identitaria en la música popular.” 7th UCLA Department of Spanish & Portuguese Graduate Conference, Univ. of California, Los Angeles. 29-30 April 2010. viii “La representación del cañaveral en Sacchario y Arturo, la estrella más brillante .” Latin American Studies Conference, “Crises and Opportunities in Latin America,” Univ. of California, Riverside. 23-24 April 2010. “Literatura e identidad nacional: los romances imposibles en Maldito Amor de Rosario Ferré.” 28 th Cincinnati Conference on Romance Languages and Literatures, Univ. of Cincinnati, Ohio. 9-11 May 2008. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2011-2012 Editor-in-Chief of Mester , Journal of the UCLA Department of Spanish & Portuguese 2011-2012 Participant of the UC-Cuba Discussion Group 2008-2010 Editor (Reviewer) of Mester , Journal of the UCLA Department of Spanish & Portuguese 2010 Reviewer of the Conference Proceedings: VII UCLA Department of Spanish & Portuguese Graduate Conference 2010 Member of the Organizing Committee of the VII UCLA Department of Spanish & Portuguese Graduate Conference AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS 2012-2013 Dissertation Year Fellowship, UCLA 2011-2012 Mester Year Fellowship, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, UCLA 2011-2012 Faucett Travel Grant, UCLA Latin American Institute 2011-2012 Harry and Yvonne Lenart Graduate Travel Fellowship, UCLA 2010-2011 UCLA Graduate Division Year Mentorship Program 2009 UCLA Graduate Division Summer Research Mentorship Program 2008-2009 UCLA Graduate Division Cota-Robles Fellowship ix INTRODUCCIÓN El nacionalismo suele ser interpretado como un fenómeno eminentemente masculino. Sin embargo, las mujeres siempre han participado—directa o indirectamente—del ámbito nacional (Yuval-Davis 3). La innegable presencia de las mujeres en los movimientos nacionalistas ha llevado a teóricas como Lois A. West, Nira Yuva-Davis y Jill Vickers a examinar la dinámica entre el género, el feminismo y el nacionalismo. 1 Estos estudios han señalado que la propensión de las feministas a involucrarse en los proyectos nacionales depende de la naturaleza de ambos movimientos y de las posibilidades que ofrecen para las mujeres. Las mujeres, según Jill Vickers, se sienten más inclinadas a unirse a la empresa de los nacionalistas cuando éstos responden de manera positiva a sus intereses (86-89). La probabilidad de establecer un vínculo es mayor, por lo tanto, cuando existe