Making Waves Anniversary Volume: Women in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Editor: Ann Davies, Parvathi Kumaraswami and Claire Williams
Date Of Publication: Feb 2008
Isbn13: 9781847184641
Isbn: 1-84718-464-2
Gender and women’s studies have formed part of the academic landscape for many years, but while the field is now established enough to have developed in depth and perspectives, there remain many areas of significance yet to be explored–most significantly, much of the work carried out has remained rooted in the Anglo-American context. Those working outside this context are increasingly aware of the need to understand women in different cultural contexts in order to determine whether, to what extent and how representations of women and cultural contexts are interactive and dynamic concepts. The current volume contributes to the growing interest in the field of women and culture in the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds and shows how women writers, researchers, teachers and students have always made waves to counteract the complacency, prejudice and tradition that threatens to ignore or subsume them.

The volume draws on literary study–the starting point for much of the early work on gender in Spain, the Lusophone world and Latin America–but also goes beyond it, to discuss women’s interaction not only with literature but also with art, and language itself, in the Hispanic and Lusophone contexts. It acts as a showcase for contemporary scholarship undertaken in Hispanic and Lusophone gender studies, developing earlier insights and forging new ones, to refine the debate continuing in the subject. The contributors include both established scholars with a proven track record and promising newcomers to the field.

The volume arises from the individual research projects and sustained discussions of Women in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (WiSPs), an organisation that exists to promote scholarship by and about women in the field of Iberian, Lusophone and Latin American Studies. This volume celebrates the first seven years of WiSPs’s life and presents some of the research presented under its auspices at annual conferences and study days.

Ann Davies (Newcastle University), Par Kumaraswami (University of Manchester) and Claire Williams (University of Liverpool) have all served at

various times on the Executive Committee of WiSPS during its short but dynamic existence, contributing to its active intellectual, professional and

organisational evolution. They are delighted to present this volume, which captures the range and depth of the research undertaken by members of the

organisation.

“This collection of essays constitutes a watershed, marking the definitive coming of age of Gender and Women’s Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Studies (...) Each of these studies could very well stand on its own. Each prompts further reflection, and each advances knowledge in its realm of intellectual activity. Together they achieve an astonishing critical mass. The authors have brought to bear their collective expertise in deciphering languages, literatures and cultural codes in order to produce new readings and interpretations of written and visual texts, taking full account of such issues as gender, race, identity and the different kinds of violence inflicted on the female subject. These essays simultaneously expand the boundaries of feminist scholarship and raise readers’ expectations with regard to future publications.”

―Dr Patricia Anne Odber de Baubeta, University of Birmingham

“Making Waves is an exciting new contribution to the study of women writers, readers and artists in the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds. The essays have been carefully selected to provide a global focus (Cuba, Mozambique, Mexico, Brazil, and Spain) and a central concern: the gendering of language, image and experience. Combining accessibility with theoretical sophistication, insightful commentary with feisty debate, the volume certainly promises to 'make waves' in the field of women's studies today.”

―Professor Catherine Davies, University of Nottingham

“This collection is fresh, stimulating and ground-breaking, both in the material offered for consideration and the critical and theoretical approaches used. Considerable strength is lent the collection from the fact that this comes from a group of scholars who have had the opportunity to exchange ideas and prompt new thoughts in others via the regular and now well-established meetings of WISPS. The volume celebrates not only the women whose work is brought under the critical lens, but the collaborative and cooperative process that brought these studies into being.”

―Professor Alison Sinclair

"The collection...deserves attention simply because of the quality of so many of the contributions. This is a collection of essays that should be held by all good university libraries and many of the pieces it contains will be of lasting interest to scholars and students in the field of Hispanic and Lusophone gender studies."

Thea Pitman, University of Leeds, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2009

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