Workshops: Stories

Workshop 3: Gender and State Formation:
Granuaile O'Malley, Anne Bradstreet, and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

Conveners:

• Electa Arenal (S/WS), CUNY Graduate School
• Cristina Malcolmson (E/WS), Bates College
• Susan O'Malley (E), CUNY Graduate School

We invited participants to explore the relation of gender, state formation, and nationalism in the early modern period and to reflect, where possible, on the impact of nationalism on feminism today. To focus the discussion on the early modern period the participants read several short works (or excerpts) by Granuaile O'Malley (c.1530-1603), Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-51?-1695), who lived at a time when the idea of nation, state, empire, and colony were being formulated. Initial questions addressed were where did these women locate themselves in their writing in the evolving formation of the English and Spanish empires? Is it possible to theorize about the relation of gender and nationalism in the early modern period and today as much of the world is being torn asunder by ethnic struggles?