Kimberly Gauderman, associate professor of history and director of the Latin American Studies Program, presented a keynote address at the Colonial Americas Studies Organization (CASO) conference, organized by Georgetown University and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. In her address, titled "Dos Mujeres, Una Ciudad: Herencias Modernas en la Historia Colonial" ("Two Women, One City: Modern Legacies in Colonial History"), Gauderman focused on the limitations of using modern gender paradigms for interpreting the past by discussing the issue of domestic violence in colonial and modern times.
“Surprising to some, research shows that women had greater legal recourse in their confrontations with violent spouses in seventeenth-century Quito than they had in modern Ecuador until domestic violence was criminalized in 1995,” she said.
Other invited speakers from the US included Stuart Schwartz and Rolena Adorno, both from Yale University, and Tom Cummins, from the University of Chicago.
“This was such a wonderful experience and I felt very honored to represent the University of New Mexico at an event that drew participants from Europe, Latin America and the United States,” she said. Gauderman was able to connect with scholars from around the world and represent UNM’s commitment to Latin American scholarship.
“I was able to promote UNM’s status as the premier Research I university serving Hispanic populations, and our desire to strengthen our connections to Latin American universities and scholars,” she said.
She added, “The quality of Latin American scholarship at UNM is internationally recognized. In my discussions with scholars and administrators from various universities, I was reminded, yet again, that UNM plays an important role in strengthening and promoting Latin American scholarship across the globe.”
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu