CREATING SPACES OF THIRD GENDER IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NEW SPAIN: REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER IN PORTRAIT PRINTS OF MEXICAN COLONIAL NUNS

In Colonial New Spain, vidas interiores were confessions written by nuns in convents under the order of their confessors. These vidas served as the basis for biographies of the sisters, which were written and distributed by confessors. Vidas frequently included printed portraits of the subjects on whom they were based. One important aspect of these portraits is the gender identities of the nuns portrayed. In many of these vidas, nuns took on masculine roles typically unavailable to women in the Viceregal era. To accomplish these undertakings, nuns gave up their femininity, including the standard colonial role for females as wife and mother. As nuns, these women struggled to shed their unholiness through prayer, reflection, and penance. This continual battle against feminine sin allowed nuns to take on roles considered traditionally-male in the Novohispanic era, such as leadership and scholarship. Because of the lack of unholy femininity and the “male” tasks these nuns could accomplish, they could be seen as beings in a space of third gender, whom were also worthy of emulation. In my discussion, I will examine the role of the space of third gender for New Spanish nuns, and how the printed portraits in vidas convey these standards.Latin American StudiesMastersUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of Latin American StudiesHernández-Durán, RayMcKnight, KathrynJackson, Margare