Representation of Women Writers in Galician Emigration Press in Buenos Aires: Avelina Valladares and Rosalía de Castro as Displayed in Galician Almanac [Almanaque Gallego] (1898–1927) ^†

Abstract

Galician Almanac in Buenos Aires [Almanaque Gallego de Buenos Aires] (1898–1927), founded and directed by Manuel Castro López, consists of a true collection of Galician knowledge made up of numerous works of historical and literary research by intellectuals and writers from both sides of the Atlantic. In its pages there are plenty of references to two contemporary fellow writers who have attracted our attention and become the subject of this brief study: Avelina Valladares and Rosalía de Castro. This paper examines the differences and proximities in the representation of women writers as highlighted by the magazine around these authors, considering that they are misadjusted characters in terms of the behavior standards of their time. In this sense, our study analyses how the Almanac… retrieves an imagery of the origins around the Galician emigrates, by pointing out that both Rosalia de Castro and Avelina Valladares took part in the setting of new literary and political standards. By this, the Almanac builds upon these women the sense of a new beginning for Galician emigrates in America.

1. Background

Every process of mass migration leads to important changes in the country of origin and in the place of destination. In the case of transnational Galicia, historiographical studies (Hernández Borge 1986; Fernández and Moya 1999; Núñez Seixas 2001, 2007; Actis and Esteban 2007; De Cristóforis 2008; Devoto 2003; Farías 2016, 2018) indicate that the mass migration between 1870 and 1930 was stimulated by a series of structural shifts that trigger the displacement of large numbers of expatriates to America. As a matter of fact, certain economic reasons such as poor industrial development, agrarian crises derived from a small agricultural economy, lack of investment by the ruling class, among other factors, encouraged young men and whole families to leave their homeland and begin a migratory process that would last until the 20th century. They believed that the New World could be the solution to their problems and despair, or at least they thought that those vast virgin lands and untamed frontiers could offer them a better life, a fresh start, and perhaps even a fortune. The chosen destinations on the other side of the Atlantic—such as Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba and Mexico—were able to house the newcomers thanks to their open immigration policies, which started to standardize regulations on entry and residency for foreigners and their incorporation to the labour market1. During the second half of the 19th century Argentina had entered a period of remarkable economic growth which created an even larger demand for labour and could not be supplied by the native population. This is the reason why immigration became a response to this need and was so openly encouraged; notwithstanding the frequent abuses and inhuman treatment that Galician immigrants received while waiting to be employed by the state or the private sector (De Cristóforis 2008). Even though large numbers of the migrant population were incorporated to the urban industry as blue-collar workers, or to the farming sectors, via cattle ranches or farms throughout the pampas2, the growing popularity of the periodic press also drew attention of some qualified immigrants willing to settle to a more intellectual labour. These occupations were frequently combined with teaching positions.

One of the Galicians to arrive in America during the late 19th century was Manuel Castro López. In 1892 he moved to Buenos Aires and started to work as a contributor to The Echo of Galicia [El Eco de Galicia], where he published articles and literary texts of his own creation. Years later, in 1898, he founded the Galician Almanac [Almanaque Gallego] and ran the paper for 30 years, until 1927. Back in Lugo, Castro López used to be a member of the Federal Republican Party [Partido Republicano Federal] so he had strong regionalist values and was a passionate defender of Galician autonomy. That trace stayed with him in Buenos Aires, where he combined his journalistic and literary activities to carry out intense research on the influence of Galicia in America: The intellectual father of the heroes of Argentine Independence [El padre intelectual de los próceres de la Independencia argentina] (1903–1905), An expedition from La Coruña to Río de la Plata in 1526 [Una espedición (sic) de La Coruña al Plata en 1526] (1907), Galicians who helped the emancipation of South America [Gallegos que axudaron a la emancipación sudamericana] (1910), and Los fundadores de la Capilla del Carmen y del Palacio del Consejo Nacional de Educación de Buenos Aires [Founders of Capilla del Carmen and of the National Council of Education’s Palace in Buenos Aires] (1918) are some of his published works (Hermida 2016). However, his activities were not limited to journalism and academic work, but also involved the fellowship with societies and sponsors, as well as the promotion of Galician culture among the migrant communities. As Juan Andrés Bresciano (2003) points out, his tireless work for the promotion, defence and appreciation of the Galician immigrant spawned an extensive journalistic and historiographical production that vindicated the Galician presence in the Argentinian emancipation process (164 ss). As a matter of fact, this Buenos Aires-based periodical press kept immigrants informed of current affairs both in the host country and in Galicia, and played an important role in the city’s political life.

2. Literary and Journalistic Projects in the Galician Almanac in Buenos Aires

The influence of Galician emigres in the Americas extended to every field including the cultural scene: the birth of the Galician press, Galician-themed book production, Galician-themed literary soirées, literary contests and social festivities such as the Floral Games [Xogos Froraes] are some of the cultural manifestations in the Rio de la Plata area where politics, literature and journalism were linked. The case of the Galician Almanac in Buenos Aires [Almanaque Gallego de Buenos Aires] also exhibits this blend. As it has been mentioned, the magazine ran from 1898 until 1927 and served as a conduit between home and transnational Galicia. Its head and founder, Manuel Castro López, worked to promote the cultural involvement of Galician communities that mass migration flows had brought to Buenos Aires, and cooperated in modernizing the city by upgrading some of its press organs. Throughout its 30 issues annually published, the contents of the Almanac… changed according to the historical and political context: the diplomatic tension between Spain and Argentina, the working-class struggles in relation to the anarchist movement, and the expanding literary field of late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Almanac… was also the beginning of a process of ethnic association that would last many years and may have consolidated after the end of World War II, with the arrival of the Spanish exiles—especially from the Republican side.

In this work we intend to analyze those articles that address two contemporary fellow writers, and misadjusted characters in terms of the behaviour standards of the time: Avelina Valladares and Rosalía de Castro, and the first release of their works in some issues of the magazine. Our intention is to establish the differences and proximities regarding the representations of women writers that are built upon both authors, and to rearrange some other representations that prevailed among the migrant group.

In an article published in the Center for Galician Studies Yearbook [Anuario del Centro de Estudios Gallegos] of Montevideo, Uruguay, for the year 2003, historian and scholar Juan Andrés Bescriano identifies five historiographic goals on the representation of historical subjects in the Galician Almanac.

On turning to overlooked historical actors—and even dismissed by certain forms of Historiography that prevailed at that time—, we can see Castro López’s proposal as original and refreshing. His distancing from the more conservative conceptions of the protagonists of the historical evolution is clearly perceived in [certain] appraisals (…).

(p. 167, our translation)

[Al preocuparse por actores históricos poco tratados—e inclusive desdeñados por ciertas formas de la Historiografía que prevalecía en ese tiempo—, la propuesta de Castro López puede resultar original y renovadora. Su distanciamiento con respecto a las concepciones más conservadoras sobre los protagonistas del devenir histórico, se percibe claramente en [ciertas] apreciaciones (…).]

(p. 167)

A closer look at these topics could help us appreciate them in their complexity and interpret the representations of the authors in question. In the first place, the Almanac… aims to explain Galician history by arguing that the participation of Galicians in every revolutionary process has a unique nature, in the sense that it is an unrepeatable event leading to the origins of any society. Secondly, we will be able to retrieve the presence of a Galician man or woman in the making of certain institutions, or a specific function by them performed for the first time. The study portrays those “first Galicians” as symbolic parents of an institution, a certain practice or a certain function that imprints a special character onto those activities. The third goal is to draw attention to those Galicians who are ancestors of important or renowned people on both sides of the Atlantic, or members of their families. This issue strengthens the underlying idea of origin, which takes us to the fourth objective: demonstrating the Galician origin of some historical character whose background remains uncertain. Finally, the last and most important purpose of the Almanac…, according to Bresciano, was to reclaim an unknown event and to explain and rectify errors that may have occurred in connection with it.

We begin the publication of this Almanac, the first Galician one in America, with a noble and progress-related goal: that of expanding the work to which The Echo of Galicia has been aspiring, that of spreading the word, in the Rio de la Plata republics, and in the small homeland, about the knowledge, the ingenuity and the worthy action of their children living in these countries.

(Galician Almanac for 1898, p. 3)

[Emprendemos la publicación de este ALMANAQUE, el primero gallego en América, con un fin noble y determinante de progreso: el de ampliar la obra a cuya realización viene aspirando EL ECO DE GALICIA, el de dar a conocer, en las repúblicas del Plata, a la pequeña patria, y en la pequeña patria, el saber, el ingenio y la honrosa acción de sus hijos residentes en estos países.]

(Almanaque Gallego de Buenos Aires para 1898, p. 3)

This opening paragraph reveals that not only does Castro López see a correspondence between the Almanac… and The Echo of Galicia [El Eco de Galicia]—the newspaper he used to work for at the beginning of his career in Buenos Aires—but also that this new project addresses a “double audience”: a reader who is both inside and outside Galicia—and who may also be a non-Galician Spanish reader—hence, he or she may feel engaged by the contents of the magazine. The publication kept emigrants informed of current affairs both in the host country and in Galicia, and furthermore brought back unknown or forgotten stories from the Galician past. This unusual relationship with the past is what made the Almanac… a significant paper of its time. This axiom repeats in the second issue:

Having succeeded on the first point, and despite the hard lessons taught by experience, (…) the Galician Almanac for this current year has come to morally link, the region of Galicia with a large part of their emigrated sons and daughters and vice versa. In addition, and by stronger bonds than the newspaper, it has also helped some emigres from the rest of Spain, as well as Argentines, show their sympathy for our unforgettable homeland.

(Galician Almanac for 1899, p. 3)

[Habiendo acertado en el primer punto, y pese a las duras lecciones de la experiencia, (…) el ALMANAQUE GALLEGO para el actual año, no sólo ha venido a enlazar moralmente, y por lazos de mayor consistencia que los del periódico, a la región de Galicia con gran parte de sus hijos emigrados, y viceversa, sino que, además, ha contribuído a que algunos del resto de España, así como también argentinos, demostrasen sus simpatías hacia nuestro inolvidable terruño.]

(Almanaque Gallego de Buenos Aires para 1899, p. 3)

3. A New Beginning Overseas

Many articles on the life and work of Rosalía de Castro and Avelina Valladares can be classified into one or more of the themes illustrated by Bresciano. Below we discuss some examples on the sense of ‘inception’ that both writers have throughout the 30 issues of the magazine. Before we begin, it should be noted that this set of representations takes on a very special relevance, as they are two female writers: indeed, the female gender is attached to a sense of origin, of lineage and foundation.

3.1. Rosalía de Castro

The cover of the 1901 issue of the Galician Almanac opens up with an eloquent image: a woman in her Galician headscarf gazes wistfully at a ship crossing the Atlantic and fading on the horizon (see Figure A1). It constitutes a symbol of emigration. On pages 80& ss. can be found an article entitled “Tributes to Rosalía de Castro” [Homenajes a Rosalía de Castro]—preceded by a portrait by José Bouchet—commenting on different tributes to Rosalía that took place between 1885 and 1901 during the years following her death.

(…) are eloquent expressions the evening that took place in La Coruña [in] 1885 in memory of the great woman, under the presidency of Castelar, the ‘Zorrilla’ of oratory; the solemn transportation of his mortal remains (1891) to be placed in the mausoleum of Santiago de Compostela by the Galicians living in Cuba; the festival and bronze crown that, in 1897, was enshrined by those Galicians established in Buenos Aires; the installation of a commemorative tombstone that, according to the Spanish Academy, was carried out in her house in Padrón in July 1900,; a theater in Vigo that was named after her, and some others tributes that would amaze Rosalía, if she revived.

(Galician Almanac for 1901, p. 81)

[(…) son elocuentes manifestaciones la velada que á la memoria de la gran mujer se efectuó en La Coruña [en] el año 1885, bajo la presidencia del Zorrilla de la oratoria: Castelar; la solemne traslación de sus restos mortales (1891), para ser colocados en el mausoleo erigido en Compostela por el desprendimiento de los gallegos residentes en Cuba; el festival y la corona de bronce que en 1897 le consagraron los establecidos en Buenos Aires; la colocación de una lápida conmemorativa que en julio de 1900, y de acuerdo con la Academia Española, se efectuó en la casa que tuvo en Padrón; el haberse dado su nombre á un buen teatro de Vigo, y algunas otras; homenajes que asombrarían a Rosalía, si ésta reviviese.]

(Almanaque Gallego de Buenos Aires para 1901, p. 81)

The connection between the poet’s body and the ways in which she has been remembered are studied by María Rábade Villar (2018) in the context of her transformation into a ‘Cultural Saint’. On an issue of the Galician homeland [La Patria Gallega], published on 30 May 1891, and cited by the specialist, one can read the “Notarial certificate drawn up at the time of the burial of Rosalía de Castro’s remains” [Acta notarial levantada en el momento de la inhumación de los restos de Rosalía de Castro], which attests to Rosalía’s first burial in Adina cemetery in Padrón, her subsequent exhumation, and her final transfer to the Pantheon of Illustrious Galicians in Santiago de Compostela.

At the end, the review underlines the need to renew this tribute through a publication of her complete works. This initiative shows Castro Lopez’s commitment to place the author in the Buenos Aires literary field of the time, and to promote a poetic voice that would quickly find roots among the migrant communities: “We must carry out the project of publishing a complete works collection. This would be a new tribute, worthy of the personification of the feelings and aspirations of Galicia.” (p. 81) [Hay que realizar el proyecto de publicar una colección de todas sus obras. Esto sería un nuevo homenaje, digno de la personificadora de los sentimientos y aspiraciones de Galicia.].

Even though journals and newspapers kept playing a very important role in the publishing industry, books were also an increasingly popular format within a growing book industry that would have their maximum splendor by mid 20th century3. According to Ruy Farías (2018) the elite members who led important publishing houses in Buenos Aires reprinted certain books in Spanish, hoping to reach the local reader and give them access to Galician culture. Works like that of Rosalía’s were essential to the Galician literary cannon and also had considerable symbolic value for the next generations of migrants. In this line, the Almanac developed an important job as a promoter of Rosalia’s work by publishing her texts outside Galicia, in many cases for the first time. Such is the case of “Galician Short story”4 [Conto Gallego] published in the 1923 issue (pp. 95–104) with notes and comments by Manuel Castro López, as well as the poems “My homeland” [Mi tierra] and “Non sei se me ules a rosas” [I don’t know if you smell like roses] published in the next issue. The editor’s “Separate notes” [Notas sueltas] in the last pages of the magazine (pp. 136–37) add more information about these non-collected poems (Bouza-Brey 1992) and explain that they were published for the first time in Argentina 30 years before in The Echo of Galicia [El Eco de Galicia] on 10 September 1894, which reinforces the dialogue between both papers. According to Castro López, they were initially taken from Evaristo Novoa López’s notebook, and were not included in the Complete Works of Rosalía de Castro published in Madrid in 19095. Another reference to the publication of ‘Rosalian’ works is contained in the section “Galicians in the Argentine Republic” [Los gallegos en la República Argentina] in the 1901 issue, containing a “Summary of some events that occurred since 4 November 1897, when the first Galician Almanac was published” (p. 98). The news article comments that in January 1898 was published an illustrated book entitled To Rosalía de Castro [A Rosalía de Castro], which reviews the tribute made the year before in honor of the Galicians living in Argentina.

Having said that, it is hard not to notice the similarities between Manuel Castro López with writer and journalist Manuel Barros: like Castro López, Barros directed in Buenos Aires the newspaper Spanish Nation [La Nación Española] from 1881, and used it as a communication channel for the promotion of his literary work and research on Rosalía de Castro, translating many of her poems—specially those of Follas Novas—into Spanish, and thus contributing to make her known among the Buenos Aires Spanish-speaking elite (Angueira Viturro 2018).

As we have mentioned above, one of the historiographic purposes of the Almanac was to retrieve the presence of Galicians at the beginning of a given institution, and to reinforce the unique personality and the political and cultural characters of this country (Bresciano 2003). To this regard, the article “The pioneers. Francisco María de la Iglesia González (biographical notes)” [Los precursores. Francisco María de la Iglesia González (notas biográficas)], published in 1921, serves as an example. As the title suggests, the text gives a brief but detailed biography of Francisco de la Iglesia, a poet and educator born in Santiago de Compostela, the first to win the Floral Games [Xogos Froraes] contest with the poem “To Galicia” [A Galicia]. Together with his brother Antonio, founded Galicia. Fortnightly magazine of this kingdom [Galicia. Revista quincenal de este Reino], a very influential paper lost today, that ran from 1 October 1860 to 15 December 1865:

(…) founded a magazine with the title of Galicia, highly sought after by regional writers nowadays, edited in five volumes full of curious works, and in which the region’s most notable writers saw the light at that time.

(Galician Almanac for 1921, p. 87, emphasis added)

[(…) fundó una revista con el título de Galicia, hoy muy buscada por los literatos regionales, que forma cinco tomos en folios llenos de curiosísimos trabajos, y en los que vieron la luz los más notables de los escritores de la región en aquellos tiempos.]

(Almanaque Gallego de Buenos Aires para 1921, p. 87, las cursivas son nuestras)

Here the name of Rosalía de Castro steps in to establish another “first event”: this is where her poem “Airiños, airiños aires” was published for the first time, in 1862, though it would be later included in Cantares gallegos (1863): “There, Rosalía de Castro published her poem Airiños, airiños, aires (1862), unpublished at the time—Cantares gallegos is dated 1863. (Ibid., emphasis in original)” [Rosalía de Castro publicó allí su poema, inédito entonces, Airiños, airiños, aires (1862)—Cantares gallegos lleva la fecha 1863. (Ibid.)].

In line with his intend to document the historical and cultural assets of Galicia, Castro López emphasizes the importance of this magazine as a “monument to Galician literature” (p. 87) and concludes De la Iglesia’s biography by making a commitment to the public: to bring about this document in order to dedicate it a special study. Besides, this idea of culture and heritage as monuments is what inspires the article “Exalted Figures: Curros Enríquez and Rosalía de Castro” [Figuras excelsas. Curros Enríquez y Rosalía de Castro], by Antonio Carballo Tenorio, published on the 1925 issue. Unlike Manuel Curros Enríquez, who by that time was honored with a public memorial, and other contemporaries, such as Emilia Pardo Bazán and Concepción Arenal, Rosalía lacks a personal monument in A Coruña:

The capital of Galicia has dedicated only one street to her, and it is a shameful street, which hides itself so as to be concealed from people; it is in fact a piece of street, because it was segregated from another one that bears the name of a former mayor of La Coruña.

(Galician Almanac for 1925, p. 78)

[La capital de Galicia le ha dedicado solamente una calle, y es una calle vergonzante, que se esconde como para ocultarse de las gentes, más bien un trozo de calle, porque fue segregada de otra que lleva el nombre de un ex Alcalde coruñés.]

(Almanaque Gallego de Buenos Aires para 1925, p. 78)

Dovic and Helgason (2016) argue that modern nationalisms play an important role as historical backgrounds of veneration practices. The enshrinement of some figures like the ones mentioned above (particularly if they were linked to political vindications) was a key practice for “fostering a common symbolic imaginario, stabilizing shared memories, and maintaining social cohesion of the emerging communities.” (p. 6). This nation-building efforts are especially significant in the case of transnational Galicia and gain special interest among the migrant communities in Argentina. This is one of the reasons why Rosalía de Castro has been conceived of as “Cultural Saint” (Dovic and Helgason 2016; Rábade Villar 2018) for the Galician people around the world.

The author ends the review by questioning the sufficiency of the St. Domingo de Bonaval Convent as a memorial worthy of the poet, and once again demands an editorial recognition. Reinforcing the importance of publishing Rosalía’s is not only a constant in the Almanac, but also a reminder of Foucault’s principle “transform documents into monuments” (Foucault 2008, p. 17):

The human remains of Rosalía still rest in the ruined Convent of Santo Domingo in Santiago de Compostela, today declared a national monument at the expense of the memory of the poet, because that prevented Galicia from restoring it to make it the Pantheon of Illustrious Galicians. (…) Why not make a breviary of the poems by the bard of the Sar? I would propose that his verses be widely published and taught in schools.

(p. 79)

[Los restos mortales de Rosalía siguen descansando en el derruido templo de Santo Domingo de Santiago, hoy declarado monumento nacional, con detrimento para la memoria de la ternísima poetisa, porque eso determinó que Galicia no pueda ocuparse en reconstruirlo, para convertir el lugar citado en sepulcro de gallegos ilustres. (…) ¿Por qué no hacemos un breviario de los poemas de la cantora del Sar? Yo propondría que sus versos se editasen con profusión y se enseñasen en las escuelas.]

To sum up, Rosalía de Castro’s symbolic identity within the Galician Almanac matches Castro Lopez’s editorial purpose: to preserve a worldview of Galicia among the immigrants and avoid a possible disintegration or a loss of its identity, caused by a quick involvement with the host country. In this sense, the articles written on the poet and her published works highlight the idea of origin, foundation or lineage, which exalt her figure to the rank of “Cultural Saint”.

3.2. Avelina Valladares

Not many more female writers appeared in the pages of the Galician Almanac apart from Rosalía de Castro, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Concepción Arenal and Avelina Valladares. One is tempted to assume that the choice of these two poets for inclusion in this paper may be due to the influence exerted by two men close to them: Manuel Murguía and Marcial Valladares. However, it would be too simplistic to claim this without further analysis. It is true that female authors do not easily fit into the often arbitrary categories imposed by literary criticism: movements, generations, discursive practices and cultural activities (Davies 1998). Still, women’s literature has found something like a canon of its own in the romantic tradition. Susan Kirkpatrick (1989) analyzes this initial assumption by studying the context in which women’s literature emerges in the mid-19th century, and in terms of the sexual difference paradigm. It was believed that female subjectivity implied a set of social practices—related to passivity, procreation, motherhood, among others, which developed inside the domestic domain—while masculinity entailed another set of actions aimed mainly at participating in civic life, intellectual and analytical processes, which generated the reinforcement of a sexual division of labour. Nevertheless, “this norm, while it enclosed woman within the patriarchal household, gave them an unprecedented though limited and strictly regulated authority in language” (p. 2).

Castro López introduces Avelina Valladares in the inaugural issue with a biographical note titled after her (33&ss.): born in Villancosta (Pontevedra) in 1825, she was raised in an ‘Hidalgo’s’ family to whom also belonged Marcial Valladares, her brother. Like Rosalía, she was very engaged in her country’s political issues and was a very active promoter of Galician culture and literature. This implication in the public sphere—something rare for a woman in the 19th century—was possible by the education she received as a child. She used Galician language on her writings, and sung religious and metaphysical themes: “She is a Galician poet, very Galician. He has written little; but we must know that the merit of the artist is never in the size of their works.” (p. 33) [Es una poetisa gallega, muy gallega. Ha escrito poco; pero se comprende que el mérito del artista no está nunca en la cantidad de sus obras. (p. 33)]. However, unlike Rosalía, she never got married, so looking after other relatives was an implicit duty to honor the ‘feminine virtues’: ”Without being a wife or mother, her main aspiration has been the care and well-being of her family.” (Ibid) [Su principal aspiración, sin ser esposa ni madre, se ha reducido al cuidado y bienestar de su familia. (Ibid)]. Female representations of this kind should come as no surprise if we consider that the medical science of the Enlightenment as well as the philosophical theories of the previous century (Rousseau, Kant, Hegel) validated the female ‘natural’ domesticity and her political subordination. This conception of the female body—regarded as an inferior version of the male—added a moral social imperative thanks to the liberal theories, which legitimized the development of a certain ideology of womanhood with its corresponding social practices (Kirkpatrick 1989). Castro López continues with a portrait adjusted to this powerful standard:

Although kind-hearted and sweet, she had manly ideas: she has never allowed herself loving relationships, nor, as much as she respects marriage, has she wanted to get married. (…) however, she knew that her destiny was family, and to family she devoted all her efforts (…) more than a sister, she has been a mother and a bridesmaid at her sisters’ weddings, a godmother at their children’s baptisms; protection, nerve and soul, in short, for the whole family.

(pp. 34–35)

[Aunque de corazón bondadoso y dulce, tenía ideas varoniles: jamás se ha permitido amorosas relaciones, ni, por más que respeta mucho el matrimonio, ha querido casarse. (…) no obstante, conoció que su destino era la familia, y á la familia tendría que consagrarse toda (…) más que hermana, ha sido madre y madrina en las bodas de sus hermanas, madrina en los bautizos de los hijos de estas, amparo, nervio y alma, en fin, de toda la familia.]

3.3. From the ‘Angel in the House’ to the ‘Language of One’s Own’ Identity Model

Also this view of women matches with that made by one of the contributors of the Almanac. In “The religious spirit and Galician women in the War of Independence” [El espíritu religioso y la mujer gallega en la guerra de Independencia], published on 1910, Juan Manuel Espada points out the role played by Galician women along several past and current independence processes, emphasizing “her love of independence and freedom, her hatred of vassalage and slavery” (p. 63) [su amor a la independencia y a la libertad, su odio al vasallaje y a la esclavitud]. This characterization adds a twist to female subjectivity as an important actor linked to the idea or origin: “(…) the young woman becomes a wife, a mother. Her reforming, moralizing, invigorating role begins here (…).” (p. 62) [(…) la joven se convierte en esposa, en madre. Aquí comienza su papel reformador, moralizador, vigorizador (…)] This ‘Angel in the house’ identity model, widely studied along the Spanish culture, was helpful for producing the Galician women stereotype: this woman attuned to her domestic circle could expand her maternal tenderness to all the Galician children scattered on both sides of the Atlantic. Espada’s text pictures Galician women as rebellious and fearless, but only against the enemy or the conqueror and never towards their husbands. In fact, when the husband is around, she must be submissive and respect him to the point of veneration. Kirkpatrick’s paradigm of sexual difference is guaranteed by a recognition of male power at any cost, rising him as the home’s guardian and monarch: “She rules, he reigns” (p. 64) [Ella gobierna, él reina]. The husband is the only person against whom the woman is not allowed to rebel, even if physical violence is involved. This is justified it by a kind of ancestral force:

There are cases (…) in which he beats and mistreats her, and she has ever or almost never rebelled. Not because she lacks the courage and strength, but because of something inexplicable, ancestral, which forces her to submit, to suffer with patience, not to drill into the prestige of the head of the family.

(p. 64)

[Casos se ven (…) en que éste la golpea y la maltrata de hecho sin que a ella se le ocurra nunca o casi nunca rebelarse, no porque le falten valor y fuerzas para hacerlo, sino por algo inexplicable, ancestral, que la obliga a someterse, a sufrir con paciencia, a no barrenar en el prestigio del jefe de la familia.]

Domestication and domesticity become inseparable concepts in this portrait of Galician woman as a domesticated/domestic animal, and thus merges with the model of a woman utterly devoted to the duties of home and motherhood, and to the physical and moral welfare of her family:

He gives his life for his own, with the same ease with which he practices the most insignificant action, without seeing anything great or extraordinary in it, but the fulfillment of a duty and the satisfaction of his tenderness and his love.

(p. 65)

[Da la vida por los suyos, con la misma facilidad con que practica la acción más insignificante, sin ver en ello nada de grande ni de extraordinario, sino el cumplimiento de un deber y la satisfacción de sus ternuras y de su amor.]

Although the text does not mention either Rosalía or Avelina, it could apply to both of them since they are part to the Galician linage. Indeed, it is interesting to note the connection Espada makes with the idea of origin: by exploring women’s behavior along several independence processes in the past, the author can justify and legitimize this ‘Angel in the house’ qualities in the present. Once again, the historiographical content of the Almanac is used for giving a scientific basis to an ongoing issue, in this case, the maintenance of male political domination over women, and their confinement to a domestic life.

Nevertheless, in the big picture this purpose had unexpected results: within this feminine ideology of sentimentality, a world of new opportunities was being offered to women writers to become authoritative interlocutors in the literary field. This exploration can be seen in Avelina’s poems published in 1899 and 1903 issues of the Almanac: “In an album“ [En un Album] and “My jewel”[Miña joya]. The language of feelings was now the scope of 19th century, a powerful tool to express the complex experience of the new individual. This ‘language of their own’ helped them made their way into a new aesthetic and dispute the literary field with men.

But this was not the only language in dispute that started to arise in this period. Galician, a minority or autochthonous language historically suppressed by the centralizing Castilian-speaking hegemony, has maintained close contact with that one, the language of power, land and culture (Monteagudo 2018). The efforts made in Spain during the 19th century to uphold Galician as a poetic and literary language at first, and as a public and political one later on, can be seen in the work carried out by some influential personalities: Cantares Gallegos, by Rosalía de Castro, the Galician-Spanish dictionary [Diccionario gallego-castellano] (1884), by lexicographer Marcial Valladares, and the creation in 1906 of the Galician Royal Academy [Real Academia Gallega], co-funded and chaired by Manuel Murguía, stressed the significance of the Galician language as a core element of Galician identity. Avelina Valladares also collaborated on this duty by writing opinion articles that were published inside and outside Galicia; she was, in fact, one of the first women to write this particular genre for the press6. In America, the increasing trend to endorse and support heritage language among Galician immigrants could have been, according to Ruy Farías (2018), a way to protest against the disdain of some other members of the elite. In “Galician language in Buenos Aires” [El dialecto gallego en Buenos Aires], Faustino Martínez Santradán, another contributor of the magazine, comments on exclusion felt by those Galicians who dare to use their language outside the domestic sphere:

Back in my childhood, it was common that the school teacher or the professor of higher education instead of simply correcting, pointed with sneer cruel words that blushes the cheeks, the reckless appearance of one of those sloppy Galician terms (…).

(Galician Almanac for 1902, p. 19)

[Fuera del hogar, ya sea en la escuela de las primeras letras o en las cátedras de segunda enseñanza, era cosa corriente, allá por los años de mi niñez, que el maestro o el catedrático, en vez de corregir a secas, sazonara con la sátira punzante, o el comentario ridículo y despreciativo que colorea de rubor las mejillas el asomo imprudente de alguno de aquellos galleguismos de faz desaliñada (…).]

(Almanaque Gallego para 1902, p. 19)

The linguistic struggle existing on the continent was now being transfer to the New World, and those Galicians who spoke in their mother tongue felt the rejection and mocks of the Buenos Aires elite. The Almanac condemned such disciplinary measures and seek to strengthen Galician association and maintenance of ethnocultural identity.

4. Conclusions

Through this brief study we have reviewed and analyzed different practices by which the Galician Almanac in Buenos Aires tried to generate a positive image of Galicia and its culture in the host country. This attempt was Manuel Castro López’s response to a society that stigmatized, stereotyped and prejudged immigrants on the basis of their places of origin. To do so, he made the Almanac something of an encyclopedia of Galician knowledge which dug into the colonial past to find connections between Argentinian and Galician cultures in the present. By retrieving those ‘first Galician’ at the beginning of an institution or tradition, he could demonstrate that both cultures had more in common than expected.

Secondly, we have explored the representation of two women writers—Rosalía de Castro and Avelina Valladares—throughout the magazine. We have discovered that though they were also presented under this ‘inception’ paradigm, it functioned in a very different way than did in male historical figures. In this case, the sense of origin and foundation—directly attached to their female condition— exposes the magazine’s historiographical will to explain women behaviour patterns and thus legitimize their social and economic oppression. Even the domestic nature of the feminine subjectivity would start to drift apart by the turn of the century, it still had some time left.

When in 1922 the Almanac celebrated its 25th anniversary, one could see a cycle coming to an end, although the magazine still had five years to go. The 1922 issue’s cover exhibits a woman in a very similar position to the one in 1901, only that this time it is not the horizon she gazes at, but in the direction of a tower with the Galician coat of arms on it (see Figure A2). Then, the magazine transcribes the correspondence that the Buenos Aires elite members had sent to Manuel Castro López, congratulating him on the anniversary. This piece, signed by historian Ernesto Quesada, may well show that he served his purpose:

We Argentines are very interested in your intellectual activity: by studying Galician men who have had some influence on this country, you clarify dark points in our history, and your writings become necessary in Americanists’ libraries.

(Galician Almanac for 1922, p. 4)

[A nosotros los argentinos nos interesa muchísimo su actividad intelectual: al estudiar a los hombres de Galicia que alguna influencia han tenido en este país, aclara puntos oscuros de nuestra historia, y sus escritos se tornan necesarios en las bibliotecas de los americanistas.]

(Almanaque Gallego de Buenos Aires para 1922, p. 4)