Beyond “bellas y tontas”: Reclaiming Women’s Knowledge in Latin America

• In Event: Mujeres y Transgresiones Literarias

Abstract

Tratado de medicina natural para hombres melancólicos (Treatise on Natural Medicine for Melancholic Men) (2011) by Porto Rican author Mayra Santos-Febres presents a female narrative voice offering advice and suggesting home remedies for men in areas such as sexuality, homosexuality, impotence, fatherhood, marriage, etc. The instigating and parodic nature of the work, which claims to be a “self-help book, a philosophical treatise, a humor essay, a cookbook of home remedies, a book of poetry addressed to men” is an attempt to challenge myths and traditions of Latin American cultures, which have constantly confined women to very limited roles, places, and spaces in society and granted men a natural superiority over them. In this presentation, I demonstrate how Santos-Febres, through the use of parody and irony, reclaims women’s ability to disseminate knowledge. The author appropriates and challenges traditional male discourses of science and medicine, dismantling old paradigms on the role of women in Latin American society. Moreover, Santos-Febres reinforces the fact that, even when marginalized and stereotyped, women have found alternative ways to bring their voice to the forefront of social and literary discussion, thereby participating in the construction of knowledge.

Author

• Michelle C Medeiros, Marquette University