A Domestic Revolution: Feminist Awakening in the Home in Rosario Castellanos’s ‘Lección de cocina’ ['Cooking Lesson’] (1971) and Antonella Sudasassi’s El despertar de las hormigas [The Awakening of the Ants] (2019)

Harvey-Kattou, L. 2025. Forthcoming. A Domestic Revolution: Feminist Awakening in the Home in Rosario Castellanos’s ‘Lección de cocina’ ['Cooking Lesson’] (1971) and Antonella Sudasassi’s El despertar de las hormigas [The Awakening of the Ants] (2019). in: Fiona Noble and Nadia Albaladejo Garcia (ed.) Alternative Voices: Curating Femininity in Hispanic Art (1920-2020) London Palgrave Macmillan.

Chapter titleA Domestic Revolution: Feminist Awakening in the Home in Rosario Castellanos’s ‘Lección de cocina’ ['Cooking Lesson’] (1971) and Antonella Sudasassi’s El despertar de las hormigas [The Awakening of the Ants] (2019)
AuthorsHarvey-Kattou, L.
EditorsFiona Noble and Nadia Albaladejo Garcia
Abstract

Harvey-Kattou conceptualises the concept of the feminist gaze which can be used as a framework for the study of creative works which undermine a normative, heteropatriarchal worldview. This concept is used to analyse two works of fiction by women creators from Latin America: ‘Lección de cocina’ [‘Cooking Lesson’], the ground-breaking short story published by Mexican author Rosario Castellanos in 1971, and the 2019 debut film El despertar de las hormigas [The Awakening of the Ants] by Costa Rican director Antonella Sudasassi. The chapter demonstrates the ways in which the feminist gaze operates in these works through setting up a heteropatriarchal worldview, giving agency to female protagonists, and empowering them through the use of the voice.

KeywordsCosta Rica
Mexico
the gaze
Costa Rican cinema
Rosario Castellanos
Antonella Sudasassi
feminist gaze
Book titleAlternative Voices: Curating Femininity in Hispanic Art (1920-2020)
Year2025
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Place of publicationLondon

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