User:PMLopera/Manuela Sáenz

Early participation within the revolution

For several years, Manuela lived with her father, who in 1817 arranged for her marriage to a wealthy English merchant, James Thorne, who was twice her age. The couple moved to Lima, Peru, in 1819 where she lived as an aristocrat and held social gatherings in her home where guests included political leaders and military officers. These guests shared military secrets about the ongoing revolution with her, and, in 1819, when Simón Bolívar took part in the successful liberation of New Granada, Manuela Sáenz was radicalized and an active member in the conspiracy against the viceroy of Perú, José de la Serna e Hinojosa during 1820.

As part of this conspiracy, Manuela, her friend Rosa Campuzano, and other women with pro-Independence leanings attempted to recruit colonial troops from the royalist defense arsenal in Lima, guarded by the vital Numancia regiment. The conspiracy was a success, with much of the regiment, including Manuela's half brother, defecting to the anti-Spanish army of José de San Martín.

Saenz was described as a heroine and known for her patriotism. This patriotism was noticed in her sympathy for the creole uprising against Spanish.

Jose De San Martin after proclaiming Peru’s independence in 1821 awarded Manuela Saenz with the highest distinction in Peru, which was the title of "signet ring of the Order of the Sun of Peru."

In her early periods she would hold secret gatherings, where she would pass information as a spy. Manuela Saenz participated in the negotiations with the Numancia battalion.

Years in exile and death (1835–1856)

When she attempted to return to Ecuador in 1835, the Ecuadorian president, Vicente Rocafuerte, revoked her passport.

Rocafuerte justified his order to exile Sáenz by stating “It is the women who most promote the spirit of anarchy in these countries".

She then took refuge in northern Peru, living in the small coastal town of Paita. She descended into poverty and for the next twenty-five years, a destitute outcast, Manuela sold tobacco and translated letters for North American whale hunterswho wrote to their lovers in Latin America. While there, she met the American author Herman Melville, and the revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi.

By establishing a Society of Patriotic Ladies and decorating the members with the slogan “To the patriotism of the most sensitive" Manuela Sáenz and other women partook in conspiracies against Spanish rule in her years of exile.

In 1847, her husband was murdered in Pativilca and she was denied her 8,000 pesos inheritance. Disabled after the stairs in her home collapsed, Manuela died in Paita, on 23 November 1856, during a diphtheria epidemic. Her body was buried in a communal, mass grave and her belongings were burned. The items that did survive, personal letters and artifacts, contributed later to the legacy of both her and Simon Bolívar.

Legacy

After the revolution, Manuela effectively faded from literature. Between 1860 and 1940 only three Ecuadorian writers wrote about her and her participation in the revolution, and these writings largely portrayed her as either exclusively the lover of Simón Bolívar or as incapable and wrongfully participating within the political sphere. These portrayals also assured her femininity as a mainstay of her characterization. However, the 1940s created a significant shift in how she was viewed and characterized. Literature like Papeles De Manuela Saenz, 1945, by Vicente Lecuna, which was a compilation of documents regarding the life of Bolívar, effectively disproved popular stereotypes about Manuela. Ideas about her being sexually deviant, hyper feminine and incapable were replaced by more favorable portrayals as the 20th century progressed.

The later 20th century generated shifts in her portrayals that were consistent with ideological shifts within Latin America, like the increase of feminism of the 1980s and nationalism of the 1960s – 1970s. Portrayals within the fictional The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel García Márquez and the nonfictional Alfonso Rumazo's Manuela Saenz La Libertadora del Libertador contributed to her effective humanization within popular culture and helped politicize her image. Alfonso Rumazo’s novel was especially poignant for its ideas of Pan-American Nationalism that were represented through Manuela's participation within the wars of independence. Manuela became increasingly popular with radical Latin American feminist groups subsequently, her image was commonly used as a rallying point for Indo-Latina causes of the 1980s. The popular image of Manuela riding horseback in men's clothing, popularized by her portrayal in The General in His Labyrinth, was re-enacted by female demonstrators in Ecuador in 1998.

Nella Martinez encouraged the recognition of Manuela Saenz and paid homage to her by organizing a gathering of feminists in Paita on September 24, 1989. This was known as the "Primer Encuentro con la Historia: Manuela Saenz". All participants swore to follow her example by rallying against sexual, racial and class discrimination, and other injustices. They saw Saenz as a feminist heroine.

On 25 May 2007 the Ecuadorian government symbolically gave Saenz the rank of General.

Feminism

During Saenz's time, women's realm consisted of private and domestic spaces while politics and warfare spaces were for men.She found various ways physically and symbolically to take part in masculine spheres of activity yet also take part if the feminine arenas of her period. She used feminine behaviours to have some influence in these masculine spaces, usually using her intimate relationships as tools.

Saenz was often described as an eccentric woman, lesbian, a light woman, who "would dress up during the day as an official and during the night she went through a metamorphosis with the help of some wine."

Saenz is usually known as an emancipating woman with conviction for liberty and independence. Written as a woman who breaks the status quo.

She developed the a discourse of friendship while in exile to give women some leverage. This discourse of friendship was used to justify the influence of women in politics. Seeing elite women as friends, instead of wives and mothers, goes against in the historiography on “republican motherhood” which Saenz was familiar with. The praise of republican motherhood showed that if women can influence and undermine the state if they are are left on their own.

Manuela Sáenz did not protest women’s exclusion from politics, but used that exclusion as a reasoning and personal interest into an affirmation of reliability and trustworthiness of women. Placing women as advisors limited her to argue for a direct political role.

Friendship, therefore, became a tool for independent women that gave them a degree of influence greater than they were previously seen before this friendship discourse. Saenz believed that friendship would create stability and consistency. Sáenz switched the gendered icons within ideology at the time by encouraging friendship and the association of it with women.

Lastly, by putting aside the view of motherhood or “woman problem,” Saenz work and image encouraged women to demand respect from politicians and intellectuals as individuals and not just as icons of their sex.

Article Draft

Under early participation within the revolution:

Saenz was described as a heroine and known for her patriotism. This patriotism was noticed in her sympathies for the creole uprising against the Spanish control in South America.

Jose De San Martin after proclaiming Peru’s independence in 1821 awarded Manuela Saenz with the highest distinction in Peru, which was the title of signet ring of the Order of the Sun of Peru. In her early periods she would hold secret gatherings, where she would pass information as a spy. Manuela Saenz participated in the negotiations with the Numancia battalion.

Under exile:

Rocafuerte justified his order to exile Sáenz by stating “It is the women who most promote the spirit of anarchy in these countries".

By establishing a Society of Patriotic Ladies and decorating the members with the slogan “To the patriotism of the most sensitive" Manuela Sáenz and other women partook in conspiracies against Spanish rule in her years of exile.

Under legacy:

There was a gathering of feminists in Paita on September 24, 1989, organized by Nella Martinez which encouraged the recognition of Manuela Saenz and paid homage to her. This was known as the "Primer Encuentro con la Historia: Manuela Saenz". All participants swore to follow her example by rallying against sexual, racial and class discrimination, and other injustices. They saw Saenz as a feminist heroine.

Manuela Saenz Painting

Under Feminism:

During Saenz's time, women's realm consisted of private and domestic spaces while politics and warfare spaces were for men. She found various ways physically and symbolically to take part in masculine spheres of activity yet also take part in the feminine arenas of her period. She used feminine behaviours to have some influence in these masculine spaces, usually using her intimate relationships as tools.

She did not feel constrained by gendered conventions of what was considered proper feminine behaviour. She smoked, she dressed up in masculine clothes, was trained for military action. Saenz was an erotic symbol with her passion for Bolivar.

Saenz was often described as an eccentric woman, a lesbian, who "would dress up during the day as an official and during the night she went through a metamorphosis with the help of some wine."

Saenz is usually identified as an emancipated woman with a conviction for liberty and independence as well as a woman who breaks the status quo.

She developed a discourse of friendship while in exile to give women some empowerment. This discourse of friendship was used to justify the influence of women in politics. Her work opposed the exclusion of women from politics by connecting friendship with female companionship. Seeing elite women as friends, instead of wives and mothers, goes against the issues surrounding the notion of “republican motherhood” which Saenz was familiar with at her time. This notion of motherhood focused on the idea that women were better as wives and mothers than as companions and collaborators. The praise of republican motherhood showed that there was fear and distress with the idea that women could influence and undermine the state if they are are left on their own. Through the friendship discourse women would be seen as friends and peers to men, as companions and collaborators.

Manuela Sáenz did not protest women’s exclusion from politics, but used that exclusion as a reasoning and personal interest into an affirmation of reliability and trustworthiness of women.

Friendship, therefore, became a tool for independent women, which gave them a degree of influence greater than they were previously seen before this friendship discourse. Saenz believed that friendship would create stability and consistency. Sáenz switched the gendered icons within ideology at the time by encouraging friendship and the association of it with women.

Lastly, by putting aside the view of motherhood or “woman problem,” Saenz work and image encouraged women to demand respect from politicians and intellectuals as individuals and not just as icons of their sex.

Bibliography:

Chambers, Sarah. (2001). Republican Friendship: Manuela Saenz Writes Women into the Nation, 1835-1856. The Hispanic American historical review. 81. 225-57. 10.1215/00182168-81-2-225.

Dominguez, Luis F. “Manuela Sáenz: The Revolutionary Heroine of South America.” Homeschool Spanish Academy, March 3, 2021. https://www.spanish.academy/blog/manuela-saenz-the-revolutionary-heroine-of-south-america/

Hennes, Heather. “The Gendered Spaces of La Libertadora: Diego Rísquez’s ‘Manuela Sáenz.’” Hispanic Journal 32, no. 2 (2011): 95–108. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44287065

“Manuela Sáenz: La Libertadora Feminista.” Colombia Informa - Agencia de Comunicaciones , November 23, 2018. https://www.colombiainforma.info/manuela-saenz-la-libertadora-feminista/

“Manuela Sáenz, Révolutionnaire Féministe.” L'Histoire par les femmes, July 7, 2019. https://histoireparlesfemmes.com/2016/02/08/manuela-saenz-revolutionnaire-feministe/ .

Murray, Pamela S. “‘Loca’ or ‘Libertadora’?: Manuela Sáenz in the Eyes of History and Historians, 1900-c.1990.” Journal of Latin American Studies 33, no. 2 (2001): 291–310. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3653686.

Vilalta, María José. “Historia de Las Mujeres y Memoria Histórica: Manuela Sáenz Interpela a Simón Bolívar (1822-1830).” Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y Del Caribe / European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, no. 93 (2012): 61–78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23294471.

“World-Changing Women: Manuela Sáenz.” OpenLearn. The Open University, June 2, 2020. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/world-changing-women-manuela-saenz?in_menu=258041 .

Yaneth Oviedo, Mary. 2013. “Manuela Sáenz En Las Memorias de Jean Baptista Boussingault: ¿La Mujer Emancipadora o Emancipada?” In Mujeres y Emancipación de La América Latina y El Caribe En Los Siglos XIX y XX, edited by Irina Bajini, Luisa Campuzano, and Emilia Perassi, 131–37. Di/Segni: 4. Milan, Italy: Università degli Studi di Milano; Ledizioni. https://search-ebscohost-com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=202016702084&site=eds-live&scope=site