(Dissident motherhood: the mud mothers vs the golden mothers in La flor de hierro, by Libertad Demitrópulos)

Abstract

Published in Argentina during the last military dictatorship, La flor de hierro (1978), whose background is the conquest and the colonial situation, shows motherhood figures that challenge the feminine sexual imaginary imposed by the hegemonic discourse of the novel’s production context. I propose the novel displays four models of dissident motherhood (denied motherhood, forced motherhood, illegitimate motherhood and motherhood that strengthen female bonds) which are produced and coerced by a subjugator masculine power and are represented by three protagonists. These motherhoods are opposed to another that is idealized; unlike the previous ones, it is capable of resisting man’s oppression. Consequently, it also acquires a non-normative stance. While the first four models are compared to colonial “mudded cities” —Medinas, Santiago del Estero—, the last one is compared to the “golden cities” —Trapalanda, El Dorado—. Therefore, feminine dominates masculine only in utopian places, this kind of domination belongs to the order of the imaginary, so feminine rebellion is present in this Demitrópulo’s early novel but as an undeveloped possibility.
In order to rethink the concept of dissident motherhood, this research is a reflection about the contributions made by different fields of feminist theory. Regarding the objectives, it seeks, firstly, to read La flor de hierro from a perspective that focuses on female voices, marginalized by the official discourse of the years of State terrorism, and, secondly, to contribute to the study of the original narrative of Demitrópulos, which has not been explored enough.