Society Women and Enlightened Charity in Spain - (New Hispanisms: Cultural and Literary Studies) (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Established by King Carlos III in 1787, the Junta de Damas de Honor y Mâerito is the oldest feminine, secular, philanthropic association in Spain. During the early decades of its existence, the Junta de Damas instituted a series of innovative reforms and scientific experiments as they ran Madrid's foundling hospital, women's prison, and schools for impoverished women and children. Society Women and Enlightened Charity in Spain presents the Junta de Damas as an important, understudied chapter in the history of women's accession to the public sphere, both in Spain and in the wider context of the Enlightenment. An interdisciplinary collaboration between historians and literary scholars in Spain and the United States, this collection provides the first book-length, comprehensive study of the early years of the Junta de Damas. It makes available for the first time in English a holistic account of the early decades of the organization, from its creation in 1787, through the Napoleonic invasion in 1808 and the traumatic years of the Peninsular War, until 1823, when King Felipe VII reestablished absolutism in Spain. In thirteen essays, alongside additional contextual materials, the book situates the Junta de Damas within modern feminist discourses that arose during the Enlightenment and considers its legacy to feminist thought and benevolence in the early liberal era. Biographical sketches highlight the lives of important members of the Junta de Damas, including aristocrats whose portraits were painted by Goya, along with others who dwelled in relative obscurity. Contributors analyze how the Junta de Damas contributed collectively to women's education and helped redefine the spaces of women's charity, as well as how individual members contributed as authors to the Republic of Letters or fashioned portraits that circulated publicly to project the ideal of the enlightened woman. Together, the essays collected in this volume assess the significance of the Junta de Damas as a vital Enlightenment project at the beginning of modern Spanish feminism"--

Book Synopsis

In original essays drawn from a myriad of archival materials, Society Women and Enlightened Charity in Spain reveals how the members of the Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito, founded in 1787 to administer charities and schools for impoverished women and children, claimed a role in the public sphere through their self-representation as civic mothers and created an enlightened legacy for modern feminism in Spain.

Review Quotes

"A comprehensive and meticulously researched study of women's contributions to intellectual life in eighteenth-century Spain, enhanced by elegant illustrations. A truly enlightened consideration of the Spanish Enlightenment."

--Roberta Lee Johnson, professor emerita at the University of Kansas and coeditor of A New History of Iberian Feminisms

"These essays offer a compelling portrait of the exemplary and transgressive persistence of the members of the Junta de Damas, who exercised 'civic motherhood' beyond the sanctioned spaces of the Catholic Church and their domestic lives, and whose contributions--both to Enlightenment projects in eighteenth-century Spain and to our understanding of early feminism--have often been overlooked."

--Karen Stolley, professor of Spanish at Emory University and author of Domesticating Empire: Enlightenment in Spanish America

"This book offers the first English-language study of an association of women whose pioneering initiatives in the public sphere and personal stories define a new perspective on the social transformation of Spain from the ancien régime to the Restoration. Beyond its contribution to the history of Spanish feminism, Society Women and Enlightened Charity in Spain at last gives an essential component of the Spanish Enlightenment its due."

--Janis A. Tomlinson, art historian and author of Goya: A Portrait of the Artist

"This richly documented and well-illustrated collection of essays reveals how deeply women in eighteenth-century Spain were involved in the Enlightenment project. Refusing to be marginalized or silenced, a handful of women demanded a role in the creation of modern Spain, despite familial and institutional resistance. Women insisted on contributing 'usefully' and 'rationally' to the betterment of society, and forged new ways of doing so. The essays in this book focus on the members of Madrid's Junta de Damas (part of the Madrid Royal Economic Society) and their pathbreaking work undertaken to improve the lives of poor women and children. For the first time in English, readers will discover the practical effects of Spanish women working together to forge a more equitable and just society. Attention to the sweep of history, combined with scholarly attention to detail, makes this book a ground-breaking study of women in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Spain. The Junta de Damas is indeed a 'pioneer in the history of modern women's networks of sociability and philanthropy.' Ignore the Damas at your peril."

--David T. Gies, Commonwealth Professor of Spanish at the University of Virginia and editor of Dieciocho: Hispanic Enlightenment

About the Author

Catherine M. Jaffe is professor of Spanish literature at Texas State University and the coeditor of several books, including Eve's Enlightenment: Women's Experience in Spain and Spanish America, 1726-1839.

Elisa Martín-ValdepeñasYagüe holds a doctorate in modern history from the National University of Distance Education in Spain. She coauthored, with Catherine M. Jaffe, María Lorenza de los Ríos, marquesa de Fuerte-Híjar: Vida y obra de una escritora del Siglo de las Luces.