The reproduction of the Hispanic woman ideal in the Philippines through convents and women’s schools: Gender images, attitudes, and behaviors in the 17th century

The objective of this article is to present an interpretation on the reproduction of the ideal of the Hispanic woman in Manila based on the contemporary and local notion of social ‘quality’. My research is based on the premise that an attempt was made to implement in the Philippines the sam...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Sales-Colín Kortajarena, Ostwald
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:México
Institución:UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA
Repositorio:Letras históricas
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:letrashistoricas.cucsh.udg.mx:article/7368
Acceso en línea:http://www.letrashistoricas.cucsh.udg.mx/index.php/LH/article/view/7368
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:asian Hispanicity
convents
gender studies
Manila
social quality
women’s schools
calidad social
colegios de mujeres
conventos
estudios de género
hispanidad asiática
Descripción
Sumario:The objective of this article is to present an interpretation on the reproduction of the ideal of the Hispanic woman in Manila based on the contemporary and local notion of social ‘quality’. My research is based on the premise that an attempt was made to implement in the Philippines the same organizational model that was created for the American world. My approach differs from traditional historiography by objecting to the use of the terms ‘whiteness’ – used to refer to presumed Spanish women in Manila –, ‘racism’, and ‘Spanish woman’; I argue that these categories favor prejudiced and incomplete visions and are not part of the contemporary vocabulary in the first half of the 17th century. Thus, I analyze how the meaning of ‘quality woman’ was constructed in the Philippines as a determining criterion for inclusion and belonging to the elite of the city of Manila. Finally, I demonstrate the existence of a scale of preferences for ‘quality women’ and ‘women of less position’ which, in the vocabulary of the time, were known as ‘women of all qualities’.