Description
Mechanical Amazons: Visual, Political, and Cultural Gears. 2008 Marqués de Lozoya Award
Book Summary
This work analyzes the transformative role of sports practice in the construction of the image and identity of the modern woman during a key period in Spanish history: from the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923) to the end of the Second Republic. The author unravels how sport became a visual, political, and cultural gear that drove profound sociological changes, questioning traditional gender roles and offering a new representation of femininity. A rigorous and award-winning study that connects physical activity with female emancipation.
What is it about?
The book examines the intersection between female sports practice and the sociopolitical evolution of Spain in the first decades of the 20th century. The author focuses on how the image of the sportswoman, disseminated through photography, cinema, and the press, served as a vehicle to challenge established norms. The visual and political discourses surrounding figures such as swimmers, tennis players, or gymnasts are analyzed, showing how their activity was not just a recreational act, but a declaration of modernity and autonomy. The work traverses from the first women's sports clubs to the institutionalization of sport during the Republic, revealing the tensions between the traditional ideal of the woman and the emerging "mechanical Amazon" that symbolized progress.
Main themes
- History of women in Spain during the first third of the 20th century.
- Sport as a tool for social and gender change.
- Analysis of the visual representation of women (photography, cinema, advertising).
- Relationship between politics, culture, and the female body during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship and the Second Republic.
- The construction of modern femininity through physical activity.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at researchers, students, and professionals in sociology, contemporary history, gender studies, and sports science. It will also be of great interest to readers passionate about the social history of women, visual culture, and the processes of female emancipation in Spain.
What this book contributes
- An interdisciplinary analysis that connects sports practice with the political and cultural movements of the era.
- A unique visual perspective on the representation of the modern woman, based on graphic and documentary sources.
- Understanding of how sport acted as a catalyst for female autonomy in a context of profound social transformations.
- Historical contextualization of current debates on gender, the body, and physical activity.
Technical specifications
- Author: SENTAMANS GOMEZ, TATIANA
- Publisher: Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Area d
- Language: Spanish
- Topic: GENDER STUDIES: WOMEN, SOCIOLOGY, SPORTS AND OUTDOOR RECREATION
- Collection: SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY AND ESSAY
- Binding: Other
- Publication date: January 2010
- Number of pages: 330
- Weight: 1714 g
Editorial assessment
This is a reference work for those seeking to understand the complex relationship between the female body, sport, and modernity in 20th-century Spain. The rigor of the study, backed by the 2008 Marqués de Lozoya Award, and its visual and political approach make it an essential read for specialists and a material of great value for contextualizing contemporary debates on gender equality.