Lecture series highlights UNM Distinguished Professors
Dr. Linda Hall, Distinguished Professor of History at the University of New Mexico, will present “Images of Women and Power,” the second in a series of lectures in the Distinguished Professors Lecture Series at UNM. The lecture will be held Thursday, May 8 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Acoma room in the UNM Student Union Building. The series is sponsored by the UNM College of Arts and Sciences.
Photo: Dr. Linda Hall, Distinguished Professor of History
Hall’s lecture will discuss iconic visual images of three powerful women: The Virgin of the Apocalypse, as painted by 18th-century Mexican artist Manuel Cabrera; Marlene Dietrich; and Dolores del Río.
In Cabrera's work, the Virgin Mary is depicted with wings, actively protecting her child and her people with great energy - almost the opposite of better-known images of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Artfully controlling her own image, Dietrich used her fame and appearance to combat the Nazis and aid the Allies in World War II. Del Río used her image and extraordinary beauty to change the way U.S. audiences perceived Latina and indigenous women, with Catholic filmmaker John Ford even choosing to portray her as the Virgin Mary. These images made, and still make, a difference.
Hall, who was named Distinguished Professor in Fall 2007, is author or co-author of six books, four of which have appeared in Spanish translation as well as English. Hall’s latest work, ‘Mother and Warrior: The Virgin Mary in Spain and Latin America,’ was released by the University of Texas Press in 2004. Currently, she is finishing a biography of Mexican film actress ‘Dolores del Río: Icon of Beauty in Two Cultures,’ under contract to the University of Mississippi Press.
Hall has been a professor of Latin American History at UNM since 1986. She was a University Research Lecturer in 2000-2001, has served as director of the Latin American Studies program (1995-2000), and has had numerous grants, including two Fulbright Awards for research in Latin America.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; email: scarr@unm.edu