HP212 Knowing Women: Gender, Education, and Power in Hispanic Writing

Module Code: HP212
Module Name: Knowing Women: Gender, Education, and Power in Hispanic Writing
Module Coordinators: Dr Leticia Villamediana González, Dr Rich Rabone
Term 1 in 2026-27
Module Credits: 15

Module Description

The aim of this module is to explore the different ways in which authors and thinkers have engaged with questions of gender and female equality through four centuries of Hispanic culture. This will be done initially by focusing on controversies surrounding women’s access to education and the ‘querelle des femmes’, which represented the major context for feminist debate in the early modern period, before analysing how those controversies are developed and expanded in the Enlightenment. Students will analyse how the presentation of these issues varies not only by period but also by genre, and will study a variety of different kinds of text, from fiction and drama to poetry, essays and visual art. Emphasis will be placed throughout on the detailed analysis of primary texts within their own cultural contexts, allowing students to see how these fundamental questions have been engaged with in different ways over time.

This module is open to all students in any department who have some prior knowledge of Spanish and are able to read in Spanish. The module is taught in English, and English translations of the primary texts will be provided whenever available as a support. Assessment is written in English but analyses the Spanish originals. Please get in touch if you have questions!

Course Outline

Section 1. Golden Age (Dr Rich Rabone)

Week 1. Introduction to the module. María de Zayas (i): Education, Honour, and Agency.

Week 2. María de Zayas (ii): Gender, Honour, Endings, and Responses.

Week 3. Ana Caro, 'Valor, agravio y mujer'.

Week 4. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, 'Respuesta a sor Filotea'

Week 5. Hour 1. Tips for Essay Writing. Hour 2. Introduction to section 2.

Week 6. Reading Week

Section 2. The Hispanic Enlightenment (Dr Leticia Villamediana González)

Week 7. The debate about women: Benito Jerónimo Feijoo's 'Defensa de las mujeres'.

Week 8. Women Writers and Intellectual Authority: Josefa Amar y Borbón and Inés Joyes y Blake.

Week 9. Gender in Visual Culture: Francisco de Goya and Link opens in a new window Casta PaintingsLink opens in a new window

Week 10. Gender on Stage. Leandro Fernández de Moratín/ María Rosa Gálvez

Assessment Method

1 x 2000-2250-word essay for Section 1 (50%)
1 x 2000-2250-word critical edition of a text studied in Section 2 (50%)

Disclaimer

_{This information was correct at the date of publication. However, teaching staff (or their availability) and departmental facilities do sometimes vary, or become unavailable, for reasons beyond the University’s control. In exceptional cases, timetable slots may need to change to accommodate clashes. Where this happens, the University will ensure the minimum of disruption and will ensure that the expected standard of education is maintained.}

School of Modern Languages and Cultures

HP212 Knowing Women: Gender, Education, and Power in Hispanic Writing

Module Description

Course Outline

Assessment Method

Module tutors:

Dr Rich Rabone

Dr Leticia Villamediana Gonzalez