A Woman's Place

by Reed, Maureen E.

• ISBN13: 9780826333469
• ISBN10: 082633346X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-04-01
• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr

Summary

This collective biography of six remarkable twentieth-century New Mexicans, sheds light on the distinct role of women in shaping American multi-culturalism. Maureen Reed recounts the lives of Mary Austin and Mabel Dodge Luhan, both Anglo American literary figures; Cleofas Jaramillo and Fabiola Cabeza de Baca, both Hispanic authors and folklorists; Kay Bennett, a Navajo writer and political activist; and Pablita Velarde, a Pueblo Indian painter and author. Reed shows how the emerging ideal of multiculturalism guided these women's efforts to preserve tradition even as it limited their ability to speak honestly about their lives. They endured painful conflicts between the romanticised New Mexican home they boosted publicly and the traditional gender roles they resisted privately. Their lives illustrate the difficulty of prioritising both tradition and individualism, but they also testify to the invigorating possibilities of cultural change.

Table of Contents

ILLUSTRATIONS	VI
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	VII
INTRODUCTION Homesickness	1	(14)
CHAPTER ONE In Pursuit of a Home	15	(54)
Mabel Dodge Luhan, Mary Austin, and the Appeal of Tradition
CHAPTER TWO Clinging to Tradition	69	(52)
Cleofas Jaramillo and the Transformed Home
CHAPTER THREE Making Homes in a Changing Land	121	(50)
Fabiola Cabeza de Baca and the Double-Edged Present
CHAPTER FOUR Leaving Home	171	(54)
Kay Bennett and the Limits of Tradition
CHAPTER FIVE "No Woman Ever Built a House"	225	(50)
Pablita Velarde and the Unraveling of Traditional Womanhood
AFTERWORD	275	(10)
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN ARCHIVAL REFERENCES	285	(2)
NOTES	287	(46)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	333	(16)
INDEX	349