ABSTRACT Research into the state of literature in the beginning years of the 20th century in Spain shows an absence of women’s voices. A logical conclusion, that women had no interest in written expression during the years of 1900-1936 in Spain, has shown itself to be completely false. Suffering under the pressure of unfair civil laws, the power of the patriarchy and the influence of the Church (“the angel of the house”), women were living in a world of silence. The lack of writings by women erases women from the historical memory in Spain and creates a literary emptiness. After researching in the shops of antique dealers and second-hand book shops of Spain, a large variety of kiosk literature written by women is revealed, exposing a substantial quantity of short novels intended for a women’s audience. Applying various literary theories such as feminism, queer theory, Marxism and deconstructionism, the literary value of these novels emerges and is worthy of being studied and included in the literary canon of Spain. In order to demonstrate the intrinsic cultural and literary value, an analysis of 9 novels written by 6 women whose literary talents had not as yet been recognized, was undertaken. The six women authors-heroins for their revolutionary literary expression- are: Magda Dontao (La carabina, Las otras dos), Sara Insúa (Salomé de hoy, La llama de Bengala ), Regina Opisso (Mi honor…!qué importa!), Angela Graupera (En las garras del hombre, Como las abejas) and Federica Montseny (Vampiresa). These novels, sold in kiosks across Spain, serve as the literary voices of women at that time that expressed the repressive condition of Spanish women, and which need to be included in the literary landscape of Spain. ABSTRACTO Examinar la literatura de los albores del siglo XX en España pone de manifiesto una ausencia de voces femeninas. Una conclusión lógica de esta ausencia, de que las mujeres no tenían ningún interés en la expresión escrita entre los años 1900 y 1936 en España, se demuestra a lo largo de esta disertación completamente equivocada. Presionadas por códigos civiles injustos, el poder del patriarcado y las influencias de la Iglesia (“el ángel del hogar”), las mujeres parecían vivir en un mundo de silencio. La falsa escasez de textos escritos por mujeres las borra del mundo literario. Sin embargo, después de algunas búsquedas en los almacenes de los anticuarios y librerías de segunda mano en España, una gran variedad de literatura de quiosco—un modo novedoso de difusión literaria que rompe con las normas tradicionales de circulación de textos—en forma de novelas cortas escritas por mujeres para lectoras principalmente femeninas, se hace accesible para el investigador. Al analizar estas obras a la luz de varias teorías críticas contemporáneas como el feminismo, la teoría queer, el marxismo y la deconstrucción, se pone de manifiesto el valor de dichos textos durante el periodo estudiado. Es decir, la ausencia de autoras se debe a un fallo del canon, basado en la ideología patriarcal, y no a la ausencia de autoras y obras con un intrínseco valor literario, social y didáctico. En esta disertación se analizan 9 novelas escritas por 6 mujeres de este período—heroínas por su expresión literaria revolucionaria— son: Magda Dontao (La carabina, Las otras dos), Sara Insúa (Salomé de hoy, La llama de Bengala), Regina Opisso (Mi honor…!qué importa!), Ángela Graupera (En las garras del hombre, Como las abejas) y Federica Montseny (Vampiresa). Estas novelas, vendidas en los quioscos de España durante las primeras décadas de siglo XX, sirvieron como ejemplos literarios de las voces de las mujeres que existieron en aquellos años que expresaron la condición represiva de las mujeres españolas y que merecieron ser incluidas en el panorama literario español.

El presente estudio aborda aspectos de la monstruosidad desde una perspectiva integral y transdisciplinaria que combina los estudios poscoloniales, postmodernos, queer pero sobre todo postfeministas en el campo de la producción cultural latinoamericana. Esta combinación permite poner en perspectiva la posibilidades de resistencia al tiempo y espacio en que coaccionan los personajes protagónicos de las obras a analizar: los filmes La teta asustada (2009) de Claudia Llosa y la ópera prima de Rosario García Montero, Las malas intenciones (2011); de igual forma se trabaja con la colección de cuentos Falo de Mulher (2002) y el cuento "Mãe o cacete" (2004) de Ivanna Arruda Leite; y por último, un estudio de la leyenda de la X’tabay perteneciente al sureste mexicano junto con un análisis discursivo de la cobertura de los feminicidios por parte de la prensa yucateca. La monstruosidad al interior de este trabajo será entendida como una posibilidad de aesthet(h)ical encounter, el cual combina, como su nombre lo indica, poéticas, estéticas, políticas y éticas al respecto de sujetos/personajes que se encuentran en resistencia en cuanto al acceso de la subjetividad y en contraposición a, lo denominado como, el tiempo y el espacio del monstruo.

This doctoral dissertation proposes an analysis of a selection of photographic series by a diverse group of Latin American photographers such as Argentinian Gustavo Di Mario, Brazilians Claudio Edinger and Alair Gomes, and Mexican Dorian Ulises López Macías. The analyzed material focuses on a revision of characteristics of masculinity and imperative heteronormativity in the discourses on their respective national identities. The projects put-fourth by these four artists represent a political proposal that unveals the homoaffective possibilities of their photographic referents. Susan Sontag postulates in her On Photography (1979) that “the powers of photography have in effect de-Platonized our understanding of reality, making it less and less plausible to reflect upon our experience according to the distinction between images and things, between copies and originals” (179). These artists understand the power of the image and, through its meticulous composition, they propose to not only photograph, but to also narrate the reality of dissident identities and their belonging to a collective national identity.

ABSTRACT



This dissertation focuses on the narrative fiction of three women writers from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean who have been publishing since the nineteen-nineties. The short stories and novels of Mayra Santos-Febres from Puerto Rico, Ena Lucía Portela from Cuba, and Ángela Hernández Núñez from the Dominican Republic, have been analyzed within a theoretical framework composed of Antonio Benítez Rojo and Édouard Glissant’s ideas about Caribbean cultural expression and Rosi Braidotti and Elizabeth Groz’s writings about the body in current feminist studies. In doing so this study has sought to demonstrate how contemporary Caribbean women writers employ a nomadic aesthetic that opens up a multitude of possibilities of meanings for bodies, and by extension subjects, that have traditionally been obscured by the Cartesian binary that separates the body from the mind. In spite of being culturally, sexually and racially specific bodies, the bodies that appear in the work of Santos-Febres, Portela and Hernández Núñez are in constant movement and metamorphoses. Therefore, special attention is paid to the ways in which these bodies are open to social completion making them favorable locations for negotiations of power, resistance to normative identities, and the production of new systems of knowledge that not only recognize the importance of the body but also acknowledge the value of the affects.

RESUMEN



Esta tesis trata la narrativa de tres escritoras del Caribe hispano-hablante que comenzaron a publicar a partir de los años noventa. Los cuentos y novelas de Mayra Santos-Febres de Puerto Rico, Ena Lucía Portela de Cuba, y Ángela Hernández Núñez de la República Dominicana, han sido analizados a través de un marco teórico compuesto de las ideas sobre la expresión cultural caribeña de Antonio Benítez Rojo y Édouard Glissant y los escritos sobre el cuerpo en los estudios feministas actuales de Rosi Braidotti y Elizabeth Grosz. Al hacerlo, este estudio se ha propuesto demostrar cómo las escritoras caribeñas contemporáneas emplean una estética nómade que abre las posibilidades de significado para los cuerpos y sujetos que han sido ocultados tras el binario cartesiano que separa el cuerpo de la mente. A pesar de ser cuerpos cultural, sexual y racialmente específicos, los cuerpos que aparecen en los textos de Santos-Febres, Portela y Hernández Núñez están en continuo movimiento y metamorfosis. Por lo tanto, se presta especial atención a los modos en los cuales estos cuerpos permanecen abiertos hacia la terminación social lo que los hace espacios propicios para las negociaciones de poder, la resistencia a las identidades normativas y la producción de nuevos sistemas epistemológicos que no solo reconocen la importancia del cuerpo sino que también el valor de los afectos.

Beginning in the late 20th century, Spanish writers have shown great concern for matters relating to the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and its aftermath. In narratives, they reveal, explicitly or implicitly, hidden events covered by the Franco dictatorship (1939-75). This persistence in their works about the past has been examined as necessary to society in overcoming the terrible events that occurred during the Franco's regime. Also, these narratives stand as a loud voice against impunity regarding crimes committed for almost half a century and the actual ongoing denial of the State to investigate, in depth, the crimes carried out in the past. Within this denial of the State, the disappearance of children took place during the postwar up until the first democratic government, established in 1978.

The objective of this research is to show, via fiction, the oppression and the manipulation of women during the Francoist period through different institutions, among them, Sección Femenina. Also, this study aims to prove that the separation of children from Republican mothers during the dictatorship, and later on from single poor mothers during the early years of the first democracy, was in violation of both the maternity rights of women and the children's rights. This investigation focuses on the novels Mala gente que camina (2006) by Benjamín Prado, Si a los tres años no he vuelto (2011) by Ana R. Cañil and Mientras pueda pensarte (2013) by Inmaculada Chacón. These literary works contest the stealing of children as a legitimized action with the appearance of goodness. The theoretical approaches selected for this study are: the abjection concept of Julia Kristeva, the hegemonic ideology of Antonio Gramsci; and lastly, the legalization of punishment of Michel Foucault.

The originality of this research as thesis lies to shine a light on the novels mentioned above as the evidence of the violation of the rights of motherhood and the biological family as a whole during the Franco dictatorship and again later during the early stages of Spanish democracy.

This dissertation investigates the life and career of singer Celia Cruz and the cultural legacy she has left the Hispanic culture in the United States and the world. It explores the musical journey of the Queen of Salsa and analyzes the different genres and themes that she developed in her performances during the years of her dedication to the public professional career. Among the various topics, this work discusses the African influence on the music of Celia Cruz because she made her first step to fame with the music and lyrics from African religious traditions. Additionally, this project investigates the theme of nostalgia and how Celia Cruz, with her music, helped to perpetuate the nostalgic feelings of Cuban exiles. It surveys the repertoire of songs with nostalgic themes that helps to perpetuate in the memory of the Cuban diaspora, a Cuba that no longer exists and is reflected only in their imagination. This work also examines feminist and queer issues in the life of Celia Cruz, in the lyrics of her songs and in many of her performances. Finally, it explores various stages in Celia Cruz's career that stand out: first, her beginnings in Cuba and Latin America where she soon became known as the Guarachera of Cuba; then, the contribution of Celia Cruz to the salsa music since its appearance in New York, its development in the United States, and its rapid international spread. Similarly, this project shows that Celia Cruz, with her performances worldwide, gained popularity and became the Queen of Salsa. She excelled on indoor and outdoor stages, on the small and big screen, and took her musical talent around the world. Because of her great artistic work, she was recognized for her achievements multiple times and won awards in the United States, Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, finally winning the title of Global Salsa Icon.