Spanish Women and the Colonial Wars of the 1890s
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Published: May 2008
Language: eng; spa
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9780807133163
Subjects: Europe - Spain & Portugal; United States - Reconstruction Period (1865-1877); History; History - U.S.; History: World
Description: "During Spain's military action against an uprising in its North African enclave of Melilla (1893) and its wars against separatists in Cuba (1868-78, 1895-98) and the Philippines (1896-98), Spaniards could pay a fee to the government to avoid being drafted - leaving the poor to fill the military's ranks. To protest unequal conscription practices, women organized a demonstration in Zaragoza on August 1, 1896, and two smaller demonstrations followed in Chiva (Valencia) and Viso del Alcor (near Sevilla). While such demonstrations were small in number and had no effect on government policy, they received considerable attention in Spain and across the globe." "Drawing on a broad range of primary sources, Walker explores what the eruption of these protests meant to various groups that made up the political opposition in Spain. She also considers the extent to which the history of women in the 1890s yields insights into the Spanish government's efforts to muffle any calls for change that were connected either to the status of women or that of the working class. She reviews the representation of women in connection to war and violence in the press and in other contemporary writings, as well as the perceptions of women and violence regarding the Paris Commune (still a vivid memory for a number of Spaniards in 1896) and anarchism. The appendix includes excerpts from primary sources that present often-neglected ideas and programs of dissident women, including Teresa Claramunt, Soledad Gustavo, and Angeles Lopez de Ayala."--Jacket.