Gender and Sexuality Studies

Gender and Sexuality Studies Winter 2009 Culture and Society Latin America 2 United States 10 Middle East 18 The Classical World 21 General 23 Literature Latin America 24 United States 27 Middle East 31 General 33 Film and Media 34 Art 38 Order Form 41 University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, TX 78713-7819 1-800-252-3206 [email protected] Last updated 22 January 2009 Gender Studies—Latin America 2 For Glory and Bolívar Peregrina New The Remarkable Life of Manuela Saenz Love and Death in Mexico Sex Work and the City By Pamela S. Murray By Alma M. Reed The Social Geography of Health and Safety in Foreword by Fredrick B. Pike Edited and with an introduction by Tijuana, Mexico She was a friend, lover, and confidante of charismat- Michael K. Schuessler By Yasmina Katsulis ic Spanish American independence hero Simón Foreword by Elena Poniatowska A gateway at the U.S.–Mexico border, Tijuana is a Bolívar and, after her death, a nationalist icon in her Alma Reed arrived in the Yucatán for the first time in complex urban center with a sizeable population own right. Yet authors generally have chosen either 1923, on assignment for the New York Times Sunday of sex workers. An in-depth case study of the trade, to romanticize Manuela Sáenz or to discount her Magazine to cover an archaeological survey of Sex Work and the City is the first major ethnographic altogether. For Glory and Bolivar: The Remarkable Mayan ruins. It was a contemporary Maya, however, publication on contemporary prostitution in this of Life of Manuela Sáenz, by contrast, offers a com- who stole her heart. Felipe Carrillo Puerto, said locale, providing a detailed analysis of how sex prehensive and clear-eyed biography of her. Based to be descended from Mayan kings, had recently workers’ experiences and practices are shaped by on unprecedented archival research, it paints a vivid been elected governor of the Yucatán on a platform policing and regulation. portrait of the Quito-born “Libertadora,” revealing emphasizing egalitarian reforms and indigenous Contextualizing her research within the realm both an exceptional figure and a flesh-and-blood rights. The entrenched aristocracy was enraged; of occupational risk, Yasmina Katsulis examines the person whose life broadly reflected the experiences Reed was infatuated—as was Carrillo Puerto. He experiences of a diverse range of sex workers in the of women during Spanish America’s turbulent Age and Reed were engaged within months. Yet less than region and explores the implications of prostitution, of Revolution. a year later—only eleven days before their intended particularly regarding the spheres of class hierar- Already married at the time of her meeting wedding—Carrillo Puerto was assassinated. He chies, public health, and other broad social effects. with the famous Liberator, Sáenz abandoned her had earned his place in the history books, but Reed Based on eighteen months of intensive fieldwork husband in order to become not only Bolívar’s had won a place in the hearts of Mexicans: the and nearly 400 interviews with sex workers, custom- romantic companion, but also his official archivist, bolero “La Peregrina” remains one of the Yucatán’s ers, city officials, police, local health providers, and a member of his inner circle, and one of his most most famous ballads. advocates, Sex Work and the City describes the loyal followers. She played a central role in Spanish Alma Reed recovered from her tragic ro- arenas of power and the potential for disenfran- South America’s independence drama and eventu- mance to lead a long, successful life. She eventually chisement created by municipal laws designed to ally in developments leading to the consolidation returned to Mexico, where her work in journal- regulate the trade. Providing a detailed analysis of of new nations. Pamela Murray, for the first time, ism, archaeology, and art earned her entry into this subculture’s significance within Tijuana and closely examines Sáenz’s political trajectory includ- the Orden del Aguila Azteca (Order of the Aztec its implications for debates over legalization of ing her vital, often-overlooked years in exile. She Eagle). Her time with Carrillo Puerto, however, “vice” elsewhere in the world, Katsulis draws on exposes the myths that still surround her. She offers, was the most intense of her life, and when she was powerful narratives as workers describe the risks of in short, a nuanced and much-needed histori- encouraged (by Hollywood, especially) to write her their world, ranging from HIV/AIDS and rape (by cal perspective, one that balances recognition of autobiography, she began with that special period. police or customers) to depression, work-related Sáenz’s uniqueness with awareness of the broader Her manuscript, which disappeared immediately af- stress, drug and alcohol addiction, and social stigma. forces that shaped this dynamic nineteenth-century ter her sudden death in 1966, mingled her legendary Insightful and compelling, Sex Work and the City woman. love affair with a biography of Carrillo Puerto and captures the lives (and deaths) of a population 2008, 252 pp., 6 b&w illus., 1 map the political history of the Yucatán. As such, it has whose industry has broad implications for contem- ISBN 978-0-292-71829-6, $55.00 long been sought by scholars as well as romantics. In www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/murglo.html porary society at large. 2001, historian Michael Schuessler discovered the Inter-America Series manuscript in an abandoned apartment in Mexico Duncan Earle, Howard Campbell, and John Peterson, City. An absolutely compelling memoir, Peregrina series editors restores Reed’s place in Mexican history in her own 2009, 196 pp., 16 photos, 2 maps, 1 diagram, 1 chart, 24 tables words. ISBN 978-0-292-71886-9, $50.00 Number Sixteen, Louann Atkins Temple Women & www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/katsex.html Culture Series 2007, 400 pp., 47 b&w illus. ISBN 978-0-292-70239-4, $40.00 www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/reeper.html Cinemachismo Masculinities and Sexuality in Mexican Film By Sergio de la Mora See Film and Media University of Texas Press Gender and Sexuality Studies, Winter 2009 1-800-252-3206 Gender Studies—Latin America continued 3 New Disobedience, Slander, Women’s Lives in Colonial Quito Hijos del Pueblo Seduction, and Assault Gender, Law, and Economy in Spanish America Gender, Family, and Community in Rural Mexico, Women and Men in Cajamarca, Peru, 1862-1900 By Kimberly Gauderman 1730-1850 By Tanja Christiansen What did it mean to be a woman in colonial Span- By Deborah E. Kanter Though the law and courts of nineteenth-century ish America? Given the many advances in women’s “An exceptionally important contribution to Peru were institutions created by and for the ruling rights since the nineteenth century, we might as- the scholarly literature in Mexican history, cul- elite, women of all classes used the system to negoti- sume that colonial women had few rights and were ture, and gender studies. Regionally focused ate the complexities of property rights, childrear- fully subordinated to male authority in the family and well written—especially in its emphasis on and in society—but we’d be wrong. In this provoca- accessible life histories.” ing, and marriage, and often to defend their very tive study, Kimberly Gauderman undermines the —John Tutino, Associate Professor and definitions of honor. Drawing on the trial transcripts long-accepted patriarchal model of colonial society Chair, History Department, Georgetown of Cajamarca, a northern Peruvian province, from by uncovering the active participation of indig- University more than a century ago, this book shares eye- opening details about life among this community, enous, mestiza, and Spanish women of all social The everyday lives of indigenous and Spanish in which reputation could determine a woman’s classes in many aspects of civil life in seventeenth- families in the countryside, a previously under- chances of survival. century Quito. explored segment of Mexican cultural history, Exploring the processes of courtship, seduc- Gauderman draws on records of criminal and are now illuminated through the vivid narratives tion, and familial duties revealed in these court civil proceedings, notarial records, and city council presented in Hijos del Pueblo (“offspring of the records, historian Tanja Christiansen has unearthed records to reveal women’s use of legal and extra- village”). Drawing on neglected civil and criminal a compelling panorama that includes marital strife, legal means to achieve personal and economic judicial records from the Toluca region, Deborah slander, disobedience, street brawls, and spousal goals; their often successful attempts to confront Kanter revives the voices of native women and men, abuse alongside documents that give evidence of men’s physical violence, adultery, lack of financial their Spanish neighbors, muleteers, and hacienda affection and devotion. Her research also yields support, and broken promises of marriage; women’s peons to showcase their struggles in an era of crisis much new information about the protocols for control over property; and their participation in the and uncertainty (1730–1850). conflict and cooperation among nineteenth- local, interregional, and international economies. Engaging and meaningful biographies of century Peruvian women from all social strata, and This research clearly demonstrates that authority indigenous villagers, female and male, illustrate that the prevalence of informal unions in an economy in colonial society was less hierarchical and more no scholar can understand the history of Mexican driven in large part by migratory male labor. Reviv- decentralized than the patriarchal model suggests, communities without taking gender seriously. In ing a little-known aspect of Latin American history, which gave women substantial control over eco- legal interactions native plaintiffs and Spanish Christiansen’s book simultaneously brings to light nomic and social resources.

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