This course explores the lives and stories of influential Mexican women who shaped Mexico's identity and inspired social transformation. The exploration of each story reveals different historical cultural and political crossroads where their influence and creative work became decisive even if not recognized at the time. These crossroads refer to different key points in Mexican history the conquest colonization independence the Revolution and post-Revolution and modern times. The icons focused on include La Malinche the Virgen de Guadalupe the poet Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz the intellectual Leona Vicario the movie diva Dolores del Rio the composer Maria Greever the writer Rosario Castellanos and the journalist and activist Elena Poniatowska. We explore each story through a variety of multimodal materials (film literature and poetry academic articles music and visual art) and creative assignments. The goal is to provide students with a space to become familiar with women that have given Mexico a world presence and the multiple ways in which these female voices have inspired and contributed to feminism and social change movements in Mexico and beyond.
