Ten Notable Women of Modern Latin America

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Suzanne M. Litrel’s profiles the Nun Ensign and nine other colonial Latin American women. The lives of these ten persons from varied backgrounds provide a new perspective on the region’s history.

Image courtesy of interviewee. December 5, 2023

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This video video describes the journey of co-authoring a book focused on women's contributions to Latin American history by highlighting key women from different eras. It originated from a project by Jim and Linda Henderson in the 1970s, aimed at emphasizing women's roles during a time when the women's movement was gaining momentum. The speaker, having recently completed their PhD, joined the project to revise and expand the research.

The book is structured as a biography-driven survey of Latin American history, featuring women’s experiences during significant historical transformations. It aims to provide a textured narrative that complements traditional histories often centered around male figures.

The speaker discusses three key figures:
1. **Leo Paulina** - An Austrian princess who played a significant role in Brazil's independence movement, showing how elite women influenced political developments.
2. **Florinda Majo Turner** - A Peruvian author and educator who advocated for women’s rights through her writings and faced hardships during the War of the Pacific, yet continued to promote social reform and education for women.
3. **Eva Perón** - The iconic first lady of Argentina, who used her platform to support labor rights and women’s suffrage, significantly impacting Argentine society.

The authors emphasize the importance of integrating creative expressions such as art and literature into their narrative, aiming for an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and studying Latin American history. They hope to engage readers by presenting historical figures through relatable biographies that demonstrate how women navigated and influenced their socio-political landscapes, ultimately contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of Latin American history.

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So the book was actually inspired,

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more than 40 years ago by my co-authors.

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So I'd like to just flat out, I, I co-authored this book

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with Jim and Linda Henderson,

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and, they were motivated in the mid 1970s

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to create a work, that highlighted women,

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in history, at the time, of course, that women's,

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the women's movement, broadly speaking,

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was really taking off.

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And of course, this manifested in the study of history.

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Uh, there, there was a historiographical turn to

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what was then termed as women's studies.

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So they were very motivated to do that.

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Now, fast forward, 40 odd years later,

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I was finishing up my PhD.

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I'm a recent PhD. Went back to school, for this.

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And, and I was on a panel with Jim,

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and I had just also written chapters in, about in a, b,

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c Clios Women Who Changed the World.

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And he invited me aboard this project,

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and we were going to revise and we were going to expand

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and, do research on, the new expanded,

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his new expanded vision.

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And that would be 10 chapters for the Colonial era.

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And that book came out last year

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and 10 chapters for the Modern book.

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And that's the book we're discussing today.

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We secured a contract,

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and then we went to work at the height of the pandemic.

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So that was very interesting and, and quite, fun.

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But, as an educator personally, I'm so excited

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to jump on board this project,

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because as I've been teaching for over 20 years

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and, with World History Survey,

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Latin American History Survey, Latin,

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and the issue was always 20 years ago,

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and obviously 40 years

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and more, ago, just the issue was

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what do we do with the women?

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It's a really, a new vision of

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how to teach Latin America.

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Um, this is the book that we have.

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So each of the chapters is a biographical,

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they're biographical chapters.

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So we have this biography driven survey

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of Latin American history.

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Jim and I are both, Latin Americanists by trade.

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Uh, Linda worked in Jim and Linda worked

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and lived in Columbia for some time.

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Yeah, Linda's also professor.

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Uh, and we were, we wanted to tell the story

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through the lens of women's experiences.

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And when you do so, that adds a more textured approach

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to the story, right?

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So when we think of Latin America in the modern era,

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especially the 19th century, so much

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of it highlights the battles, the heroic, the heroism,

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and the EU era.

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Very, we're leaving aside a real big chunk of history,

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and that is through women's experiences.

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So their lives are, contextualized in these,

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in important transformational, eras

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of Latin American history.

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But also we get to see what in fact, the women did.

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So it's biography driven approach to history.

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And, and that's just a, a new, sort of approach.

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And we ask also what could

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and did women of modern Latin America do?

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And they were instrumental in change.

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And this is not just sort of a, this is what the women did.

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This is deeply researched history.

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So we offer this book as an, as a, an alternate

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to the regular survey book,

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and we're happy to see it's being picked up.

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So what I'll do is I'll take three women,

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one from each era.

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I'll just sort of move us through time, if you will.

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Uh, I'll, I'll discuss, Leo Paulina of, the Hs,

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Austrian h Habsburg Princess turned Empress of Brazil.

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Uh, and she really straddles the revolutionary era to,

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the age of, the post independence, era as well,

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and that independence movement in Brazil.

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And then I'll turn to Clarinda, Mato g Turner,

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the Peruvian author, educator, editor,

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novelist, playwright.

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And she sort of is a, a good representative

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of the challenges of modernization.

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So this is, modernizing Peru,

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and this is late 19th century.

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And then I'll, lastly, I'll turn to,

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a crowd favorite, if you will.

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And that's Eva Peron Evita, who,

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former first lady of Argentina.

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And of course, she's inspired, you know, she,

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she left her own mark by dint of her biography,

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but also of course, in the efforts that she, she, she,

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did, in Argentina

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and history, inspiring so much.

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Uh, so when we,

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and when I look at Leo Paulina Brazil, now the typical

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portraiture of her, actually, I, so full disclosure,

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I grew up in Brazil, and when I was,

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when I was learning history, I didn't read much about her.

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She was the mother of Brazil, and that's all we knew.

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And I recently, writing this chapter, I,

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I reached back to my, high school friends from Brazil.

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And I said, well, what do you remember about Leo Paulina?

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And one of my friends said, she was a nothing.

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It was Pedro the first who got into, who gained independence

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for Brazil, and she just died young.

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And that was it. And she was a victim and a martyr.

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And I'll touch on that in a second,

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but what was the role of women,

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especially a elite women during that time?

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Well, again, she was a daughter of Austria.

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The Austrian Empire was kind of on shaky legs.

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And, her duty was to go out and marry,

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and forge alliances for the Austrian Habsburg empire

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that would benefit her homeland.

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Uh, in fact, her older sister married Napoleon.

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Uh, and, so, so this was the deal, you know,

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and she knew this was her duty to go out and marry

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and, bear children.

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She was highly educated.

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Uh, she, her father often remarked that had she been a man,

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she would've been a geologist.

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She was deeply interested in natural sciences,

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superb equestrian, et cetera.

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So, she had the opportunity to marry Pedro Ganza.

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The Austrian Empire needed a foil against the British

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who were moving in, and,

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Uh, I'm sorry, the Portuguese needed the Austrian

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foil against the British.

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And, the Austrian needed, some

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of the gold coming out of Brazil

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and access to natural resources.

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But, you know, by all accounts, the early part

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of the marriage was lovely,

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somewhat idyllic in the early years,

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but what was happening on the ground in Brazil,

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these are revolutionary times in South America.

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Uh, she married Pedro, in proxy in 1816,

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before she crossed the Atlantic.

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By now, the l Napoleonic Revolution, by for all,

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for all intents and purposes, had kind of, sort

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of simmer down, on the continent,

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but not in South America.

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And so now the issue were the, was the,

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movements towards independence on

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the ground in South America.

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So, just to give you just a broad overview of

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how she was instrumental in the independence movement,

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I was able to trace through her correspondence, her change,

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her transformation from Reactionary Princess to,

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sort of, independence, mind minded future Monarch

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or Brazil, future queen of Brazil.

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Uh, she sympathized with Brazilians, not the least,

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because during one flight from the tensions,

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now we have Portuguese troops on the streets,

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and they're battling,

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the independence minded loose of Brazilians.

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Uh, and she had to flee with her children. Her son died.

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He was sick already, and he died in the passage.

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And at that, I was able to see that she,

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that's when she was firmly became much more firmly on the

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side of the, in those agitating for Independence.

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On September 2, 18, 22, she, wrote a letter to Pedro,

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while she was serving as Regent at the time,

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every time he had to que disturbances,

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she would sta take over for him, basically serving as Regent

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with the Council of State.

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And, she and the, his

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and Pedro's minister, Jose Bon Pacio, decided this is a,

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the time to declare independence was now, just

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to back up a little, by 1821, their royal family

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of Portugal had left Brazil

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and gone back to, to, Portugal.

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They had fled Portugal, years prior,

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because of the Napoleonic invasion set up port in Rio.

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And now they were on the raid back having left Pago behind.

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So she, so it was up to Pedro

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and the o Bina to hold down the fort.

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And so she wrote him a letter,

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which reached him a few days later.

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Uh, and, she had met with the minister,

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and in her letter, she urged him to declare independence,

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and he leaned on her for support.

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She's, again, very practical, very levelheaded,

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highly intelligent, well-versed in affairs of state,

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and she wrote, Pedro Brazil is like a volcano.

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Uh, now is the time to declare independence.

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With or without you, Brazil will be independent.

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And then her, there's a famous line, which, which is,

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the apple is ripe, pluck it now, or it will rot.

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Now, typically we see in textbooks the iconic image

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of Pedro, you know, man on a horseback

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with a sword declaring independence on the banks of the iga,

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independence or death.

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But what we don't know is that he was inspired

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and encouraged and really pushed by Leo Paulina

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and his minister of state.

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So, she was very much a woman of her time.

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She, that was her duty, and that was,

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and she did unfortunately, die young, at age 29,

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a few weeks after a miscarriage.

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And so that was Leo Paulina.

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Um, but, as we know in with independence

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challenges, and this was no less true in Peru.

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Uh, and so I'll turn now to Florinda Maji Turner.

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And, Florinda, was,

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she lived in the Andan town.

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Uh, she grew up in, the high Andes, playing

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with indigenous children.

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Uh, she also, like Leo Paulina,

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led a fairly idyllic childhood, not quite as extravagant,

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but when she was 10, her mother died

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and her father sent her to a boarding school.

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And, so there, she stayed for six years,

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and she really threw herself into studies.

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She was probably there that she discovered the power

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of the pen, and she became editor of her school newspaper,

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wrote plays and skits, and,

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and really learned how to communicate.

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When she was 16, she returned home,

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because that was the age.

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And this is, cla Maude was born in 1852.

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So typically at the time, at age 16,

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an educated young woman would either enter the

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convent or get married.

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So their father recalled her back from boarding school

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to take care of her younger brothers age 19.

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She married, an English doctor, Dr. Turner,

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an entrepreneur, investor.

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And, he was very supportive of her writing.

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And in fact, this was a way that she helped contribute

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to family finances.

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So she began, sort of a literary magazine in town,

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and, started to gain notoriety as she wrote about,

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just affairs of the day, science, literature, culture.

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Um, but then, and here's, you know, again,

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when we think in terms of history, the war of the Pacific,

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broke out.

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And this was 1879. Um, and that's when her writing ceased.

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She turned her home into a, a field hospital.

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And, during that time as well, her husband passed away,

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not, he wasn't in a fight, but he passed.

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Lorena was left to cover her husband's deaths.

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And so, what will a woman, what's a woman to do?

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Uh, so she basically wrote herself out of his deaths.

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Uh, she wrote pieces, sold 'em, moved to another town,

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became editor for the, the first female editor

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of a daily newspaper.

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And, covered her death that way.

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At a certain point, and again, this is all sort of broad,

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I'm giving you the broad overview,

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but she moved to, when the wharf was over, she moved to,

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li, to, Lima.

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And there she had already her reputation proceeded her,

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and she was, worked for

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a daily newspaper with illustrations,

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and became editor in chief of that newspaper.

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And that's a big deal for a

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woman at the turn of the century.

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But it also speaks to the opportunities available

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to women at that time, women could be school, teachers,

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journalists, essay s playwrights.

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And indeed, she was invited to one of the most,

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notable, salons of the day in Lima.

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Now, what happens often

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with journalists is they get in trouble,

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and she decided she was started writing plays,

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and, she started digging in and upsetting the government

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and the Catholic church.

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Her work, the work for which she is most widely known

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outside of Peru, is the book, the Birds,

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birds Without a Nest, obviously ni

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and it largely concentrates on the flight of the indigenous,

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in Peru at the time.

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Um, indigenous were mostly forced into, or, or workshops

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and, engaged in really backbreaking work in,

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tech in textiles, and were not educated.

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Um, and so, and,

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they were quite suppressed by the Catholic church.

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So the Catholic church had a hand in this coercion,

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and so she was forced into, so she really took on

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that challenge and really Catholic,

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Catholic church in quite a negative life.

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Well, that was problematic.

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And then, and then this, as well as,

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certain other events led

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to her being ousted from the newspaper.

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Well, still, she carried on

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and she founded her own printing press, LA Ava,

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female Run Printing Press.

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And she continued to churn out, plays, novels,

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promoted other women's work as well.

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And again, this was a female only run printing press.

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It was amazing, especially for the time,

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and actually even now, they've come to think of it.

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Uh, but when a conservative government came to power came,

14:41.105 --> 14:42.305
then she was really in trouble,

14:42.645 --> 14:45.625
and her printing press was burned to the ground.

14:46.045 --> 14:47.505
Nobody knows exactly why,

14:47.565 --> 14:50.905
but of course, all fingers point to the government,

14:51.315 --> 14:52.645
hooligans of the new government.

14:53.305 --> 14:55.805
And, she was forced into exile.

14:57.035 --> 15:00.045
Once in exile, though she still continued to make her,

15:00.105 --> 15:01.285
make herself known.

15:02.465 --> 15:04.005
Um, and she wrote,

15:04.065 --> 15:05.885
she settled eventually in Buenos Aires.

15:06.425 --> 15:11.085
And, then she even did a tour of Europe where,

15:11.305 --> 15:15.565
she pushed for, really, for the, twin objectives

15:15.565 --> 15:18.885
of educational reform and reform at the social level too.

15:19.625 --> 15:21.765
She was also, very much a feminist.

15:21.945 --> 15:24.485
And so, one, and when I speak about educational reform,

15:24.485 --> 15:27.245
she was pushing for women to be allowed in university.

15:27.825 --> 15:31.045
So, again, when we look at the turn of the century as well,

15:31.075 --> 15:34.045
this was an exciting, I always call this the really,

15:34.105 --> 15:37.165
the first wave, first wave feminism really

15:37.485 --> 15:38.525
occurred in the 19th century.

15:38.785 --> 15:40.725
Uh, and she was very much a part of that.

15:41.545 --> 15:46.445
Um, going, moving forward just a bit more, Christ.

15:46.985 --> 15:50.325
And again, with each of the chapters we couch those,

15:50.345 --> 15:53.965
the women's stories, the spotlight is on the history.

15:54.065 --> 15:56.485
And then as told through the women's experiences,

15:57.185 --> 16:00.525
and in the interwar years, another feminist was born,

16:00.525 --> 16:03.205
and that was Eva du Peron Peron.

16:03.345 --> 16:06.525
Uh, and, she, came out.

16:06.605 --> 16:10.725
She was born during, in 1919 in the lull, the interlude

16:10.725 --> 16:12.605
between World War I and World War ii.

16:13.345 --> 16:16.445
And, unlike Flo de Turner

16:16.785 --> 16:19.685
and, Leo Paulina, she was,

16:19.985 --> 16:22.165
did not come from a privileged background at all.

16:22.665 --> 16:26.365
She was the, third daughter of, one,

16:26.965 --> 16:28.445
the wealthy l landowner.

16:28.985 --> 16:30.645
Um, and she was illegitimate.

16:30.825 --> 16:34.485
Um, and when he passed, she and her siblings

16:34.585 --> 16:36.885
and her mother were very much out the polls.

16:36.915 --> 16:39.605
It's not a good idea to be stranded in rural,

16:40.335 --> 16:44.005
rural any place if you're a mistress of a wealthy person.

16:44.265 --> 16:47.205
And suddenly now, she was iced out, the mother was iced out.

16:47.985 --> 16:51.485
So the whole family moved then to, closer

16:51.505 --> 16:56.445
to Buenos Aires, but on, but by age 15, Eva

16:56.585 --> 16:58.285
or Avita, as she came to be known,

16:58.865 --> 17:01.045
really was not interested in school.

17:01.175 --> 17:02.685
Again, unlike Aina

17:02.885 --> 17:05.605
and Flo, she wanted fame, she wanted fortune.

17:06.345 --> 17:09.845
She, wanted out of a poverty stricken life.

17:10.665 --> 17:14.925
So at age 15, she ended up, moving to Buenos Aires

17:15.385 --> 17:17.405
and determined to make her living,

17:17.705 --> 17:19.165
on the radio at least.

17:19.165 --> 17:21.765
That was where she was able to get bid parts.

17:23.025 --> 17:25.735
After four years of really pitching and slinging

17:25.735 --> 17:30.055
and getting bid parts, she finally secured two,

17:30.715 --> 17:32.095
really important spon.

17:32.235 --> 17:34.695
One, then another important sponsorship of her work

17:35.155 --> 17:37.775
by soap companies of, of all things.

17:38.075 --> 17:40.535
Uh, but they allowed her, the,

17:40.765 --> 17:45.215
this sponsorship afforded her, a measure of flexibility.

17:45.595 --> 17:48.255
And so she was able to start to create her own shows.

17:48.875 --> 17:51.005
And she, for the first time in her life,

17:51.265 --> 17:53.525
and actually when, come to think of it, at age 19

17:53.525 --> 17:57.085
or 20, not bad at all, she was able to afford

17:57.085 --> 18:00.965
to rent a nice apartment, send money to her mother,

18:01.065 --> 18:04.585
and really take care of her family well, as we know,

18:04.645 --> 18:07.745
she soon, she met, Colonel

18:07.885 --> 18:10.185
and future president of Argentina.

18:10.245 --> 18:12.025
And this was, Juan Peron

18:12.525 --> 18:15.105
and, at a fundraiser for earthquake victims.

18:15.965 --> 18:18.785
And, by all accounts, they met at that fundraiser.

18:18.785 --> 18:21.265
And by the end of the evening, they were a solid pair.

18:21.805 --> 18:25.945
And, this was at a time, in Argentina's history

18:26.775 --> 18:30.625
when, this was during a time of military rule,

18:30.885 --> 18:35.585
and Edon was a colonel, and he was, secretary of Labor.

18:36.245 --> 18:40.705
And, Ava, just to, again, just broad strokes over here,

18:40.705 --> 18:44.505
in the interest of time, Ava helped him gain a cent

18:44.505 --> 18:48.665
to presidency, by using her experience as on radio

18:49.045 --> 18:50.585
and, as an actress.

18:51.285 --> 18:53.985
And, really became the voice, his voice.

18:54.245 --> 18:57.345
And she would often speak, you know, me, me, genal,

18:57.765 --> 18:59.985
and, just speaking about him,

19:00.205 --> 19:02.065
and encouraging people to vote for him.

19:02.845 --> 19:05.745
And, so she,

19:05.745 --> 19:08.025
like Ginga really harnessed the power,

19:08.125 --> 19:09.465
the communication of the day.

19:09.915 --> 19:12.105
Ginga used pen, wielded the pen,

19:12.605 --> 19:14.785
and, Avita was able

19:14.785 --> 19:17.185
to harness this amazing new technology of radio.

19:18.205 --> 19:21.825
She, became president, as we know.

19:22.165 --> 19:25.945
And, she had launched her own initiatives.

19:26.045 --> 19:28.505
Uh, she had the office of, social reform,

19:29.045 --> 19:33.545
and, the, there's the many images of her with,

19:33.965 --> 19:35.145
mothers

19:35.145 --> 19:37.705
and children coming to her to plead on her behalf.

19:37.805 --> 19:41.105
And she did reach out directly to, as she called them,

19:41.405 --> 19:42.745
mi my,

19:45.125 --> 19:47.425
and, the, the shortlist ones, the workers.

19:48.085 --> 19:51.225
And she and Juan Ong, were able to connect directly

19:51.225 --> 19:52.265
to them for that reason.

19:52.925 --> 19:56.105
And she was a, they were able to reach a voice, voices,

19:56.105 --> 19:58.185
people who had been long ignored.

19:58.205 --> 20:02.185
And so that's very critical at this time, reaching out

20:02.185 --> 20:05.185
to a public that, that supported them

20:05.245 --> 20:07.105
and going, really changing the game.

20:07.685 --> 20:11.505
Yet that at that time, she,

20:12.815 --> 20:15.345
when people would come to her, it is said, the story goes

20:15.345 --> 20:18.665
that she would keep 100 peso notes underneath her bladder.

20:19.045 --> 20:21.745
And so she would sign petitions of those who came for her,

20:21.885 --> 20:23.385
for help and for advice,

20:23.645 --> 20:26.785
and sort of hand out, a hundred peso Bill.

20:27.485 --> 20:31.225
She also, again, as a, as they, as a feminist,

20:31.285 --> 20:34.305
she also, demanded the, that woman be able to vote.

20:34.485 --> 20:36.625
And so this was Game-changing as well.

20:37.205 --> 20:40.025
So she pushed for women of Peton,

20:40.205 --> 20:43.545
and, to join the, this, this new Peton is party.

20:44.485 --> 20:49.235
And, like, Leo Paulina, she did die quite young,

20:49.535 --> 20:54.515
but not without inspiring, just a tremendous, amount

20:54.575 --> 20:57.555
of creative output in the form of musicals, plays,

20:58.105 --> 20:59.315
stories, and so on.

20:59.855 --> 21:03.115
So, again, all three, just as, as a, as a point

21:03.115 --> 21:06.155
that I like to make, is that all three of these women, Leo

21:06.865 --> 21:10.715
Bina, LOA and Eva, were working women.

21:10.975 --> 21:14.585
And they basically, did,

21:14.615 --> 21:17.065
harness whatever they could, whatever tools

21:17.065 --> 21:20.425
that were available to them to actually push forward their,

21:20.605 --> 21:22.585
the reform that they thought so necessary.

21:23.125 --> 21:26.105
I'd like to say that there we have built,

21:26.205 --> 21:27.265
we couldn't have built, done,

21:27.265 --> 21:30.305
created this work without the amazing literature out there

21:30.565 --> 21:34.065
on women, just broadly speaking, women of Latin America,

21:34.765 --> 21:37.865
and also, some biographies as well.

21:38.405 --> 21:42.705
Uh, so we have built on the, we have built from,

21:42.705 --> 21:45.305
the trave, the terrific work of secondary sources,

21:46.365 --> 21:49.865
but these sources not, don't tell the whole picture

21:49.865 --> 21:51.065
of Latin American history.

21:51.525 --> 21:55.945
So we believe, we believe this is an, this is a new,

21:56.015 --> 21:59.825
biography driven approach to teaching Latin American history

22:00.125 --> 22:03.425
and further, through the lens of women's experiences.

22:04.405 --> 22:07.465
And in addition, we've taken an interdisciplinary approach.

22:07.965 --> 22:11.385
So that, just, again, just to, I, I always think

22:11.445 --> 22:14.185
as an instructor, for instance, how do we engage students?

22:14.485 --> 22:15.945
How do we engage the reader and,

22:15.945 --> 22:18.505
and even the broader public in our enterprise?

22:19.285 --> 22:23.545
And, so the, we've included the artwork, for instance,

22:23.825 --> 22:28.065
Frida Kahlo, the, the poems of Gabriela Misra.

22:28.885 --> 22:32.625
We, the essays of Maso, G Turner,

22:32.685 --> 22:34.185
or actually part of her play.

22:34.645 --> 22:37.345
Uh, and so, and the music of the, again, the music

22:37.525 --> 22:38.705
of Elia Cruz.

22:39.165 --> 22:41.065
So we've integrated that into the work.

22:41.525 --> 22:43.905
And again, we're not, it is just this broad

22:43.965 --> 22:45.385
interdisciplinary approach.

22:45.925 --> 22:49.745
We take a look at the creative, not the creative expression

22:49.765 --> 22:52.705
of the women, whom we're recovering, but,

22:52.965 --> 22:55.865
and also their political and economic engagement.

22:56.485 --> 23:00.785
So again, it's, it's, kind of an exciting new approach.

23:00.925 --> 23:03.585
And I've been workshopping this, quite a bit,

23:03.605 --> 23:05.185
to good, to good results.

23:05.845 --> 23:09.385
We hope that readers will, take consider biography

23:09.385 --> 23:11.425
as method, as hook and method.

23:11.685 --> 23:14.585
The biography is personal. Uh, it's relatable.

23:15.205 --> 23:18.025
We see the, the challenges confronting each women

23:18.085 --> 23:19.865
and how they overcome them came them,

23:19.925 --> 23:21.425
and the context in which they live.

23:21.805 --> 23:24.505
And then, and as, as a method, this is a way

23:24.505 --> 23:25.825
to teach Latin American history.

23:26.325 --> 23:27.905
And finally, my co-authors

23:27.905 --> 23:30.745
and I had spent quite a bit, bit of time in Latin America.

23:31.405 --> 23:33.225
Jim and Linda were Peace Corps,

23:33.225 --> 23:35.585
workers in the late sixties in Columbia.

23:36.325 --> 23:38.745
And, they also, Jim did quite a bit

23:38.745 --> 23:42.105
of his field work there, and I came of, in Sambo of Brazil.

23:42.445 --> 23:45.185
And so we do hope so much that people,

23:45.215 --> 23:48.025
that the readers come away with a deeper appreciation

23:48.445 --> 23:51.225
of Latin America in all of its complexity.

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