Women, Sainthood, and Power

ID : 3156

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This course explores the lives of female saints through the lens of several intellectual disciplines. We will discuss remarkable women in the context of their historical times and cultural backgrounds, exploring an international gallery of female saints such as Joan of Arc, Teresa of Avila, Rose of Lima, Frances Cabrini, and others. These women’s stories reveal strong characters, different from the trite depiction of female saints as silent, obedient, and submissive. We will learn how and why their strategies of resistance and accommodation to authority and to normative women’s roles are relevant today. If you are interested in psychology, women’s and gender studies, history, religion, or cultural and ethnic studies, this course is for you.

Oliva Espín, Phd, is professor emerita in the department of women’s studies at San Diego State University and the California School of Professional Psychology of Alliant International University. A native of Cuba, she received her BA in Psychology from the University of Costa Rica and her PhD from the University of Florida, specializing in counseling and therapy with women from different cultures and in Latin American Studies. She did post-doctoral work at Harvard University with a fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health.
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