Women Through Women's Eyes: Latin American Women in 19th Century Travel Accounts [Paperback]

The nineteenth century was a period of peak popularity for travel to Latin America, where a new political independence was accompanied by loosened travel restrictions. Such expeditions resulted in numerous travel accounts, most by men. However, because this period was a time of significant change and exploration, a small but growing minority of female voyagers also portrayed the people and places that they encountered.Women through Women's Eyesdraws from ten insightful accounts by female visitors to Latin America in the nineteenth century. These firsthand tales bring a number of Latin American women into focus: nuns, market women, plantation workers, the wives and daughters of landowners and politicians, and even a heroine of the independence movement. Questions of family life, religion, women's labor, and education are addressed, in addition to the interrelationships of men and women within the structure of Latin American societies.
Women through Women's Eyesis a perceptive look at Latin American women from various walks of life during this period. Within these pages, the reader catches lengthy glimpses of the women on both sides of the travel accounts-author and subject-and thereby may examine them all and their societies close-up.

Women through Women's Eyesis a fascinating, revealing and instructive document which captures the role of women in Latin-American society. . . . Bulletin of Spanish Studies

June Hahner's excellent volume provides attractive texts for classroom analysis and learning experiences.Women through Women's Eyes will be of interest to all historians who use travel accounts in teaching and writing about women's history in Latin America. Mary Karasch, Oakland University

This is a wonderful book! Hahner presents lively readings that reflect the experiences of women travelers, their views of Latinlƒ‚