Women Travelers in Latin America
The Americas Society is holding a three-day symposium on “Women Travelers in Latin America.” I got home last night in time to watch most of the first event via webcast.
Lisabeth Paravisini-Gebert discussed the German naturalist and artist, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) who traveled to Suriname to study insect life in 1699 and authored Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname. Flora Tristan (1803-1844) wrote about her travels in post-independence Peru in Peregrinations of a Pariah. Vanesa Miseres discussed Tristan’s early interest in female agency in the context of Tristan’s liminal position as a female explorer and activist. Adela Pineda Franco told the fascinating story of the Empress Carlota’s lady-in-waiting during Maximilian’s rule in Mexico, the Countess Paula Kollonitz (1830-1890). Kollonitz, “a very sharp political analyst,” wrote a bestselling memoir of her time at the Mexican court that was published in several languages, but surprisingly not in Spanish until the mid-20th century. Claire Emille Martin discussed the intrepid adventurer and Scottish noblewomen, Lady Florence Dixie (1855-1905), who traveled in Patagonia and South Africa. The webcast of last night’s proceedings were still up for re-viewing at the time of this posting.
Cowboys und Indianer 