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42. Mothers and Daughters in Transition and Beyond
- Author:
- Emilie L. Bergmann
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- With Spain's political changes, including the enfranchisement of women, in the late 1970s, and feminist theories that challenged stereotypical views of motherhood, Spanish women writers began to create more varied depictions. This essay briefly discusses the work of Montserrat Roig, Esther Tusquets, Ana Maria Moix, Nuria Amat, and Maria Mercè Roca, but its focus is on two writers' inscription of motherhood in terms of autonomy and mutual dependency: Carmen Martín Gaite's creation of maternal 'interlocutors,' and Soledad Puértolas's memoir, Con mi madre (2001) in which she writes with extraordinary honesty of the closeness and the silences she shared with her mother.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Gender Issues, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Spain
43. Out of the Glass Niche and into the Swimming Pool: the Transformation of the Sirena figure in Concha Méndez's Surtidor: Poesías
- Author:
- Nicole Altamirano
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- The present study is an exploration of revisionist mythmaking in Concha Méndez's Surtidor: poesías (1928), specifically of the Generation of 27 poet's appropriation and inscription of the androcentric myth of the siren/mermaid into female discourse, as seen through three poems: "Nadadora," "Natación," and "Bar". Through an analysis of these poems I show that Méndez dismantles the conventional "sirena" figure and revises her to suit a modern woman. In her appropriation of the "sirena," Méndez replaces the antiquated siren/ mermaid of masculine hegemonic discourse with an athletic, capable, and liberated water woman who decides her own destiny. In presenting a woman who frees herself from the restrictions of male subjectivity, Concha Méndez proposes an alternative model for female iconography—a siren singing a song rarely listened to, a song of feminine freedom and self-determination that would set the poet apart from her contemporaries for many years.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Education, and Gender Issues
- Political Geography:
- Europe
44. La batalla de la educación: Historical Memory in Josefina Aldecoa's Trilogy
- Author:
- Sara Brenneis
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Josefina Aldecoa intertwines history, collective memory and individual testimony in her historical memory trilogy: Historia de una maestra, Mujeres de negro and La fuerza del destino. In the series, Gabriela and her daughter Juana navigate through the Second Republic, the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish postwar and exile, and Spain after the death of Franco. Through the central theme of education, Aldecoa is able to express her own personal experiences of contemporary Spain alongside a generation's collective experiences. In this way, individual testimony and collective memory are fused through representations of education in Aldecoa's trilogy.
- Topic:
- Education, Peace Studies, and War
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Spain
45. Discourse of Silence in Alcanfor and "Te deix, amor, la mar com a penyora"
- Author:
- Kathleen M. Glenn
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Contemporary Spanish literature abounds in narratives where silence has an important function. In the fiction of Cristina Fernández Cubas it has epistemological implications. Mercè Rodoreda and Maria Barbal employ a rhetoric of silence to call attention to the situation of women who are obliged to remain silent and suffer without protest. Carme Riera and Dulce Chacón utilize silences, and acts of breaking silence, to emphasize the lack of voice of marginal beings and to highlight sexual, socioeconomic and political inequalities. In the present paper, I focus on the role of silence in a novel by Barbal and a story by Riera.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Gender Issues, and Human Rights
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Cuba
46. Women Writing on Physical Culture in Pre-Civil War Catalonia
- Author:
- P. Louise Johnson
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Anna Maria Martínez-Sagi is a largely forgotten but immensely evocative voice in the liberal-progressive press of nineteen-thirties' Spain. In particular, she is remarkable for being one of very few female writers of the time who were also active sportswomen, as well as being fiercely Catalanist and pro-women, in an inclusive sense. This article looks at her contribution to the debate on physical culture in Catalonia at the time, with reference to other writers concerned with the subject, and aims to capture in some small way the energy and humour which characterized her columns and reports.
- Topic:
- Education, Gender Issues, and Human Rights
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Spain, and Catalonia
47. Europe between Brussels and Byzantium: Some Thoughts on European Integration
- Author:
- Niall Ferguson
- Publication Date:
- 11-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- There is, in theory, a plausible role for the European Union as the partner of a militarily assertive United States: the peacekeeper that follows in the wake of the peacemaker. The war in Iraq, however, has raised the possibility of a diametrically different role for Europe: as a potential imperial rival to the United States. There is no need to invoke the memory of either Rome or Byzantium to make the case that Europe is capable of spoiling America's unipolar party. The successful conclusion of accession agreements with ten new member countries – not to mention the sustained appreciation of the euro against the dollar since Kennedy's article appeared – have seemingly vindicated this analysis. So too, in the eyes of some commentators, has the vociferous and not wholly ineffectual opposition of at least some E.U. member states to American policy in Iraq. If the U.S. has an imperial rival today, then the E.U. appears to be it.
- Topic:
- International Relations and War
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, Europe, Rome, and Brussels
48. From Alliances to Ambivalence: The Search for a Transatlantic Agenda In the 21st Century
- Author:
- Jackson Janes
- Publication Date:
- 11-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- During the Cold War, European-American relations were often marked by differences over tactics, but we did share for the most part a strategic goal that was to be achieved on the basis of the twin principles of deterrence and détente. Yet there are some that would argue that this past year has been different; that the transatlantic rift goes deeper and will last longer. If the Americans and Europeans cannot find common ground in certain regulatory areas, it may be that we will agree to disagree on the use of GMO's, technological standards, or Anti-trust legislation. This could lead to more competition but also to duplication in an increasingly interwoven global market. Yet, because we face a vastly more complicated environment today than during previous years — full of threats and opportunities — it will remain a challenge for the coming decade to strategize as to how transatlantic political policy problems can best be dealt with.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Cold War, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
49. Europe's Identity and Islams
- Author:
- Renate Holub
- Publication Date:
- 08-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Until the break-up of the Soviet Union, dominant intellectual and educational cultures in Europe worked primarily with national concepts. In the twentieth century, nationalist ideologies have, of course, lost some of their glamour due to the impact of two disastrous world wars. But while leading European intellectuals over the past 50 years developed a research program that transcended the national spirit, they nonetheless remained bound by the concept of “modernity,” which comprises the concept of the modern nation state and the modern nation state system. Steeped in this cultural unconscious, Europe has neglected the systematic study of alternative modernities and alternative systems of governmentality -- including systems of democratic governmentality in the internet age -- especially as these alternative modernities relate to the influx of Muslim populations.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Ethnic Conflict, Islam, and Population
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Soviet Union, and Arabia
50. Making Money: Political Development, the Greenback, and the Euro
- Author:
- Kathleen R. McNamara
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- The creation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe challenges much of what we have come to take for granted about states and the components of sovereignty. What does the willingness of twelve European Union (EU) members to abandon their own currencies mean for the nation-states of Europe? Does the Euro automatically imply further political development at the EU level? To address these questions, this paper parses out the role that national currencies play in statebuilding with reference to the nineteenth century American experience. Just as US federal authorities engaged in a political project to wrest control over money from subnational authorities to the center and unify the currency, so have the dynamics of currency unification in the EU involved important conflicts over the location of the legitimate exercise of control and rule. In particular, I highlight the role of war and market integration in prompting currency consolidation, and the importance of linkages between money and fiscal capacity for statebuilding, and apply the analytical lessons learned from the US experience to the case of the Euro.
- Topic:
- Development and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe