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Papers by Elena Cantueso Urbano

Routledge eBooks, Jan 11, 2023

La presente tesis está dedicada al estudio de los Asilos de Magdalenas, creados durante el siglo ... more La presente tesis está dedicada al estudio de los Asilos de Magdalenas, creados durante el siglo XVII y destinados a mujeres que al encontrarse en una situación desfavorable no se adaptaban al código moral que la Iglesia y el Estado imponían, así como al análisis de los productos culturales creados sobre el tema. La tesis se divide en dos partes. Dentro de la primera parte podemos encontrar una breve seguida de los capítulos uno—dedicado al estudio del catolicismo irlandés—y dos—centrado en la revisión histórica de estas instituciones en Irlanda. Dentro de la segunda parte, podemos encontrar una breve introducción seguida del capítulo tres, cuatro y cinco. Estos tres capítulos están dedicados al análisis exhaustivo de novelas, películas y obras de teatro basadas en los Asilos de Magdalenas. Finalmente, el último capítulo está dedicado al establecimiento de conclusiones generales. En general, mi intención en esta tesis ha sido triple: cuestionar el trabajo social que se creía que las...

Clepsydra. Revista Internacional de Estudios de Género y Teoría Feminista, 2019

Cuadernos de investigación filológica, Jun 30, 2021

Baby Homes regime of power, which rendered thousands of women in Ireland in a vulnerable position... more Baby Homes regime of power, which rendered thousands of women in Ireland in a vulnerable position, and the adoption business the nuns had, which deprived thousands of women of their right to be mothers (Garrett 2010: 330-343). In this article our intention is to explore the trauma caused in both unmarried mothers and illegitimate children by the Irish Catholic system of correction and what sources of healing are offered to them in restoring their identities in the aftermath of their release. To that aim, we will employ Trauma Studies.

Verbeia: Journal of English and Spanish Studies = revista de estudios filológicos, 2021

ODISEA. Revista de estudios ingleses, 2020

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Irish Catholic Church adopted and spread a... more Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Irish Catholic Church adopted and spread a gendered moral discourse to educate women in chastity, purity and passivity. In the twenty-first century, this religious discourse has been maintained and reinforced with the medicalisation of women’s bodies and the pressure put on female subjects to become mothers. Following feminist and resilience studies, we will analyse Martina Devlin’s short story “Alice through the Bathroom Mirror” (2003) to see how the female body is objectified, dehumanised and pathologized by men, and how gender expectations can be challenged by resisting subordination and objectification.

Clepsydra. Revista de Estudios de Género y Teoría Feminista, 2019

If some ecofeminists defend the innate connection between women and nature we well as the patriar... more If some ecofeminists defend the innate connection between women and nature we well as the patriarchal domination of women, this article discredits, following Biehl, that reductionist view of social relations proving that power and violence are also executed by women over other inferior women and arguing that this approach contributes to a greater gender division. Following Butler's gender performativity theory, we will analyse V.S. Alexander's The Magdalen Girls (2016) and Lisa Michelle Odgaard's The Magdalen Laundries (2017), to prove that gender divisions and moral requirements have contributed to the subjugation of Magdalene women through violence and to the negation of their role as mothers, and yet, how that vulnerable condition could have been challenged by growing resistant.

Cultural Representations of Gender Vulnerability and Resistance

In this chapter, I analyse the testimonies of some survivors gathered in Justice for Magdalenes’ ... more In this chapter, I analyse the testimonies of some survivors gathered in Justice for Magdalenes’ Oral History Project (2013) and Kathy O’Beirne’s autobiography Kathy’s Story. A Childhood Hell inside the Magdalen Laundries (2005). The narrative focuses on the life of one Magdalene survivor during her confinement and after her release, where the concepts of vulnerability, resistance and resilience gain strength. As an international political forum, the Project allows us to see how Magdalene Laundries, employed as instruments of power, rendered thousands of women in a vulnerable and precarious condition which they are still fighting to overcome. Following Judith Butler, vulnerability is part of resistance, and it is through our speech and bodily acts that we can resist social norms and precarity. Considering resilience and resistance as complementary concepts, this chapter explores how these women resisted vulnerability and if they were offered help in the aftermath of their release.

According to Butler, we are all engaged in constant power relations as political individuals, but... more According to Butler, we are all engaged in constant power relations as political individuals, but minority groups are more exposed to violence; their lives are worth less and their recognition in the public sphere is negated (Butler, Precarious Life 20, 34). In Ireland, those dissenting voices were children who did not conform to the Catholic moral code of behaviour, being banished from the public sphere, and confined in Industrial Schools during the twentieth century. After their release from these institutions, where they suffered physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, these victims were silenced and concealed in the public sphere. Using Butler’s theory of power and Trauma Studies (Kaplan, Herman, Laub), our intention in this article is twofold: firstly, to see how the digital press challenged normative power by giving visibility to displaced subjects and secondly, to see how the digital press asked both society and perpetrators for ethical responses to heal the wounds of vict...

Despite the Catholic Church’s secretive attitude concerning the questionable practices that were ... more Despite the Catholic Church’s secretive attitude concerning the questionable practices that were carried out inside Irish Magdalene asylums, the sad reality behind these institutions was disclosed and silence was broken after the closure of the last asylum in 1996. Following trauma studies, silence is considered a logical response adopted by victims who tend to repress and forget a traumatic past. Some scholars and feminists have interpreted these women’s silence as an act of agency. Contrary to this idea, I believe it was the Irish State and the Catholic Church which censored these women’s discourses. My intention here is to give evidence on the fact that women did not choose to remain silent—it was an imposed silence—and to see how popular culture has eased the way for these women towards liberation and healing.

Cuadernos de Investigación Filológica

Consideradas "marginadas", las madres solteras fueron recluidas en hogares de madres y ... more Consideradas "marginadas", las madres solteras fueron recluidas en hogares de madres y bebés y lavanderías de Magdalena durante el siglo XX, donde fueron privadas de sus hijos (Luddy 2011: 109-126). My Secret Mother (2015) y A Song for Bridget (2018) de Phyllis Whitsell exploran el régimen de poder en los hogares para madres y bebés, que dejó a miles de mujeres en Irlanda en una posición vulnerable, y el negocio de adopción que tenían las monjas, lo que privó a miles de mujeres de su derecho a ser madres (Garrett 2010: 330-343). En este artículo, nuestra intención es explorar el trauma causado tanto en las madres solteras como en los niños ilegítimos por el sistema de corrección católico irlandés y qué fuentes de resistencia se les ofrecen para restaurar sus identidades después de su liberación. Para ese fin, emplearemos Estudios de Trauma.