Adela Zamudio
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Paz Juana Plácida Adela Rafaela Zamudio Rivero, or more popularly known as Adela Zamudio (1854–1928) was a Bolivian poet, feminist, and educator. She is considered the most famous Bolivian poet, and is credited as founding the country's feminist movement. In her writing, she also used the pen-name Soledad.


Early life

Adela Zamudio was born in
Cochabamba Cochabamba ( ay, Quchapampa; qu, Quchapampa) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and the fourth largest city in Bolivia, with a population of 630 ...
, Bolivia, in 1854, to upper-class parents. Her father, Don Adolfo Zamudio, was an engineer of Basque ancestry who had emigrated to Bolivia from Argentina.Yetter, L.M. 2020, Domination and Justice in the Allegorical Story “La reunión de ayer” by Adela Zamudio (1854-1928), Bolivia''’'', Master’s thesis, Reed College, Portland. https://www.academia.edu/44814465/Domination_and_Justice_in_the_Allegorical_Story_La_reuni%C3%B3n_de_ayer_by_Adela_Zamudio_1854_1928_Bolivia Her mother, Doña Modesta Rivero de Zamudio, was the daughter of a wealthy La Paz mine owner, José Claudio Rivero, who employed Adolfo. Zamudio was first taught by a Londoner, Elizabeth Gové, who ran a small school in Coro Coro. After Zamudio's José Claudio Rivero died and Adolfo Zamudio lost his job at Rivero's copper mines, the family's economic situation quickly fell. Zamudio attended the public elementary school El Beaterio de San Alberto for two years (a charity school for orphans, Indigenous children, and poor whites such as herself). Her formal education stopped in the third grade, as was the policy for girls. Zamudio was also tutored by her parents, a London English tutor (before her wealthy grandfather died) , and was self taught, reading great quantities of literature, including feminist works..


Career

Zamudio published her first poem, ''Two Roses'', when she was 15, but did not publish her first book until 20 years later. In 1926 she was awarded the Bolivian ''Crown of Distinction'' award. Zamudio's first book of poetry was published in Buenos Aires in 1887. The next year, the La Paz Literary Circle named her an honorary member, along with Manuela Gorriti de Belzu. Over the next several years, Zamudio began painting, wrote and directed theatrical productions, published the humorist newspaper ''El alegre carneval'' (''The Happy Carnival),'' and continued to write and publish major works. She used a pseudonym, ''Soledad'' (English: ''Solitude''), to reflect her often lonely and misunderstood self, who sought to escape conservative Bolivian society. In 1899, Zamudio began her teaching career at El Beaterio de San Alberto (where she had attended public school) as an art teacher. In 1901, she founded women's art academy where she taught painting and drawing. In 1905, she became the principal of a new school for young women, the Escuala Fiscal de Señoritas (Public School for Young Women), which began women's education past adolecence in Bolivia. Zamudio further contributed to educational methodology by writing and publishing pedagogical materials about critical teaching skills. Zamudio went on to found Bolivia's first school of painting for women, Ávila, in 1911. Zamudio conducted literary campaigns in mining communities, where rich mine owners (like her own grandfather had been) kept indigenous miners and their families illiterate. Her biographer Taborga de Villarroel credits this work with contributing the solidarity that helped them in future insurrections and with training the next generation of great Bolivian thinkers. In 1912, Zamudio's sister Amalia died, and Zamudio stepped in to take care of her children. In 1913, Zamudio was awarded with a gold pen by Bolivia's leading intellectuals in honor of her essays, which sparked national discourse regarding the moral failings of the local Bishop and Catholic Church. Ahe also published ''Ráfagas'' and ''Íntimas (''her only novel). Zamudio's writings critiquing
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
gained popularity and were published multiple times. Her 1914 allegorical story "La reunión de ayer / Yesterday's Meeting" was very popular and published many times. Her animal trope to critique society was later used by George Orwell in ''
Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to c ...
'' (1945). In 1920, Zamudio's call for girls' education was answered with the opening of the first public high school for women, which was later named Liceo Adela Zamudio. Zamudio was appointed principal. Zamudio continued teaching, training teachers, and promoting women's communities until she was forced to retire in 1925. In 1926, the president of Bolivia crowned Zamudio with gold laurel leaves to honor her as a thinker in a large ceremony. Zamudio died on June 2, 1928, in Cochabamba.


Activism

Throughout her teaching career, Zamudio conducted literary campaigns in
Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...
-speaking mining communities, where rich mine owners (like her own grandfather had been) kept indigenous miners and their families illiterate. Her biographer and grand-niece Gabriela Taborga de Villarroel credits this work with contributing the solidarity that helped them in future insurrections and with training the next generation of great Bolivian thinkers. Her poetry and fiction dealt primarily with the social struggles of Bolivia, often with a romantic feeling invoked towards revolution. Non-religious, her writing was highly intellectual. Her work ''Quo Vadis'', caused a stir amongst upper-class women and clerics, increasing animosity towards her work. Her struggles with religion caused her to choose to no longer teach religion at the school she directed and the League of Catholic Women publicly condemned her. Zamudio also wrote articles for publications and newspapers, promoting democratic reforms and women's rights, including the legalization of
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
.


Legacy

Zamudio's family republished her poetry in 1942. In 1955, Augusto Guzman wrote the first biography about Zamudio. In 1977, Zamudio's grand-niece, Gabriela Taborga de Villarroel published another, ''La verdadera Adela Zamudio,'' which focuses more on her life using archival and family materials. In 2018,
Virginia Ayllón Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are s ...
published a more critical book ''El pensamiento de Adela Zamudio,'' which aimed to dispel misinformation within the popular understanding about Zamudio. While there is academic analysis of Zamudio's impact, it had been mostly in Spanish and circulated in Bolivia, until Lynette Yetter's 2020 Reed College Master's thesis, ''Domination and Justice in the Allegorical Story "La reunión de ayer" by Adela Zamudio (1854-1928), Bolivia''. The first book to bring Zamudio's life and work to the English-speaking world (and the Spanish-speaking world outside of Bolivia) is the 2023 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation finalist ''Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose'', translated from the Spanish by Lynette Yetter, bilingual edition (Fuente Fountain Books 2022). ''Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose'' earned a ''Kirkus'' Starred review and was a BookLife for ''Publishers Weekly'' Editor's Pick. On November 2, 1989, the Confederación de Instituciones Femeninas ("CONIF") erected a statue in honor of Zamudio in Chochabamba. In 1980, Bolivia's first female president, Lidia Gueiler, declared Zamudio's birthday, October 11, is celebrated in Bolivia as the "Day of Bolivian Women." In 1994, a crater on Venus was named Zamudio in honor of Adela Zamudio. Zamudio is also the namesake of an ant, Hylomyrma adelae. Zamudio is a featured figure on
Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
's installation piece ''
The Dinner Party ''The Dinner Party'' is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago. Widely regarded as the first epic feminist artwork, it functions as a symbolic history of women in civilization. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triang ...
'', being represented as one of the 999 names on the '' Heritage Floor.'' She is in the place setting dedicated to
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...
.Chicago, 256.


Works

* ''Essayos poéticos'' (Poetic Texts) (1887) * ''Violeta o la princesa azul'' (Violeta or the Blue Princess) (1890) * ''El castillo negro'' (The Black Castle) (1906) * ''Intimas'' (Close Friends) (1913) * ''Ráfagas'' (Squalls) (1914) * ''Peregrinando'' (Travelling) (1943) * ''Cuentos breves'' (Short Novels) (1943) * ''Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose'', translated from the Spanish by Lynette Yetter, bilingual edition (Fuente Fountain Books 2022) (2023 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, finalist)


Notes


References

* Chicago, Judy. ''The Dinner Party: From Creation to Preservation''. London: Merrell (2007). * ''Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature'' * ''Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose'', translated from the Spanish by Lynette Yetter, bilingual edition (Fuente Fountain Books 2022) {{DEFAULTSORT:Zamudio, Adela 1854 births 1928 deaths People from Cochabamba Bolivian people of Spanish descent Bolivian feminists Bolivian women poets Bolivian educators Bolivian women educators 19th-century Bolivian people 19th-century Bolivian poets 19th-century Bolivian women writers 19th-century Bolivian writers 20th-century Bolivian poets 20th-century Bolivian women writers 20th-century Bolivian writers