Fanny Calderón de la Barca: The Power and Privilege of Observation

Abstract

Frances Erskine Inglis, popularly known as Fanny Calderón de la Barca, traveled to Mexico with her husband, first Spanish Ambassador to Mexico, where the couple lived for two and a half years. Her narrative, Life in Mexico (1843), is informed by her Scottish origins, her role as the wife of a Spanish diplomat and an unofficial researcher for William H. Prescott, renowned US historian and family friend. This chapter analyzes the ways in which Calderón de la Barca negotiates these multiple perspectives in her portrayal of Mexico. Her discussions of independence, modernization, women’s roles in society, and religion, among other topics, reveal how women used travel narratives to engage with the transnational political and cultural debates of nation building during post-independence.