History ETDs

Suzanne Dunai

Publication Date

7-2-2012

Abstract

This study elucidates the importance of cooking manuals and recipe collections published by the Sección Femenina de la Falange (Womens Section of the Falange, 1934-1977) during the Franco Dictatorship (1939-1975) in Spain. The organization emphasized its dedication to pursuing women's interests to the political apparatus in its political rhetoric and experienced a substantial amount of autonomy from the Franco regime in communicating feminine ideals and social reform to the Spanish public. Recipes and cooking instruction provided the organization a unique way to access Spanish homes and reform the quotidian habits of Spanish women. The ideology of the Sección Femenina emphasized the importance of revolutionary reform beginning with the individual but desired to have a larger impact through housewives to improve the family and greater society. The Sección Femenina created an ideal for Spanish womanhood yet tried accommodated its femininity for individual variation of class, regional origin, and age. An investigation of cooking publications provides new insight to how the organization worked within the space prescribed by the Franco regime in hopes of reforming Spanish women, the home, and society. This thesis examines how the Sección Femenina used food ideology to communicate Falange ideology to women.

Level of Degree

Masters

Degree Name

History

Department Name

History

First Committee Member (Chair)

Ferguson, Eliza

Second Committee Member

Bokovoy, Melissa

Third Committee Member

Hutchinson, Elizabeth

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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