EAA 2018: Abstract

During the advent of colonialism that followed the 16th century European social rules were imposed to the conquered societies. When applied to the colonies, these rules were based on an explicit notion of white supremacy, but also bring with them implicit strategies for the domination of the feminine gender. On some occasions, these strategies implied turning women into scapegoats. It happened in the case of Sancti Spiritus (Argentina), where a love story between the native chiefs and a white woman named Lucia Miranda was considered the cause of burning the Spanish fort. As it seems to be a later reification it is clearly showing how Spaniards reconstructed their history, integrating a gender based -and biased- explanation. In other cases, colonialism fueled female domination strategies undergoing in Europe. This becomes evident if we critically analyze the colonial products that were made from the 17th century onwards. The case of the colonial products, as parasols and stays, coming from the Basque fisheries of the North Atlantic makes clear how they took an active part in the colonization of women’s bodies and minds. Deepening in the aforesaid aspects our contribution aims to highlight the diverse strategies for colonizing women that were developed in the context of Early Modern Colonialism.

Women, Scapegoat, Stays, Domination

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Sergio Escribano-Ruiz^1,3

Agustin Azkarate^1,2,3