Women’s and Gender Studies colloquium talk Friday
Join Women’s and Gender Studies for the second colloquium talk of the year featuring Dr. Kátia Sherman as she presents “Re-fashioning the Virgin: Ekphrasis, Mirror Images, and Subversion in some villancicos by Sor Juana” 11:45am until 1:00pm Friday September 18 in the Women’s Center (154 Bridges).
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695) has long been seen as one of the most prominent voices against the patriarchal structures that sustained gender and caste inequality in the New World. Endowed with a fine mind and unbreakable heart, she systematically questioned the androcentric precepts of both Church and society, and developed in her writings a discourse that aimed at exposing and resisting gender-based injustice. The texts that I will discuss are villancicos – songs of popular/ religious character that were sung during especial Church festivities – dating back to 1679. In these songs, Sor Juana employs ekphrasis – a vivid, imaginative description of a scene or work of art – to subvert the image of the Virgin Mary and hence offer a more autonomous portrait of a beloved Catholic icon. Moreover, Sor Juana advocates in these texts for a more egalitarian theological doctrine in which men and women enjoy equal rights and powers.