'Aren't we mothers all the same?': Personhood and patria in Eva Canel's La mulata. Issue 8 (1st September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: MATEOS, ANA
• Is Part Of: Bulletin of Hispanic studies. Volume 99:Issue 8(2022)
• Page Start: 721
• Page End: 737
• Publication Date: 2022-09-01
• Subjects: Spanish philology -- Periodicals; Portuguese philology -- Periodicals; Spain -- Civilization -- Periodicals; Latin America -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 860.5
• DOI: 10.3828/bhs.2022.44
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1475-3839

Abstract

Abstract : Eva Canel's play La mulata (Barcelona 1891, premiered in Havana in 1893) places its protagonist, Patria, at the intersection of feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonial agendas. In particular, I argue that it is through an original adaptation of the sentimental ideal of motherhood that the play grounds Patria's rights as a mother and as an Afro-descendant woman, as well as the standing of a soon to be independent Cuba. In this way, the play invites reflection on the problematic relationship between discourses of disembodied personhood and bodily discrimination.