Science Under the Microscope and Legality on Trial: How Female Authors in Latin America Confront and Challenge the Patriarchal Control of Science and Legality in the Representation of Women

Author

Anna BellumFollow

Publication Date

Spring 4-29-2020

Abstract

In this dissertation, I analyze a selection of works by eight Latin American female authors in order to explore how they represent the process of the social construction of women’s identities and roles in the male-dominated social, institutional, familial, and personal spaces that force women into particular positions of subordination. This analysis will focus, in particular, on how women writers represent the hegemonic systems of legality and science in order to highlight their role in the reproduction of values, practices, and institutions that maintain male control and female exploitation.

Each of the authors I analyze addresses the construction of women’s social roles and identities within the modern institutions of legality and science through their female characters and poetic voices. These authors have a discerning eye on their cultural context and, at times, a biting tongue as they demand social change and project what it could look like.

Degree Name

Spanish & Portuguese (PhD)

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Spanish and Portuguese

First Committee Member (Chair)

Eleuterio Santiago-Díaz

Second Committee Member

Kimberle López

Third Committee Member

Miguel López

Fourth Committee Member

Adriana González Mateos

Language

English

Keywords

Puerto Rico, Mexico, Gender Construction, Discourse Analysis, Desire, Female Oppression

Document Type

Dissertation

Recommended Citation

Bellum, Anna. "Science Under the Microscope and Legality on Trial: How Female Authors in Latin America Confront and Challenge the Patriarchal Control of Science and Legality in the Representation of Women." (2020). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/span_etds/131