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Meridional. Chilean Journal of Latin American Studies is pleased to invite you to participate in the dossier “Relevance of Latin American Marxism: Thinking from, with, and beyond Michael Löwy’s work”, which consists in our 21st volume, to be published in October 2023. 

Women in Puerto Rican Nationalist Discourse During the First Half of the 20th Century: María Cadilla de Martínez’s Hitos de la raza (Milestones of the Race)

Authors

  • Thomas Rothe Universidad de Chile

Abstract

This article analyzes Hitos de la raza (Milestones of the Race) (1945) by Puerto Rican writer María Cadilla de Martínez (1886-1951), focusing on the discursive strategies used to legitimize the role of women intellectuals within the context of building a national identity. The author’s work was published during a time of controversial national debates surrounding the affirmation of Puerto Rican identity during the first half of the 20th century, largely responding to the impact generated by the U. S. taking possession of the island in 1898. The analysis draws on theoretical concepts such as public sphere and feminist subaltern counter-public, as well as comparative methods that discuss affinities and differences with Insularismo (1934), by Puerto Rican author Antonio S. Pedreira, and Ariel (1900) by Uruguayan author José Enrique Rodó. The book is analyzed along three main arguments: Arielist influence (both on structural and ideological levels), representations of women, and the treatment of racial issues.

Keywords:

María Cadilla de Martínez, women’s writing, Arielism, Insularism, 20th century Puerto Rico