Women have contributed a lot to the geographical sciences – the universe – ultraviolet news system

• Fernanda Latani Meléndez, a UV Geography graduate, gave a presentation as part of the 20th anniversary of the degree
• The young woman was the first to undertake research from indigenous feminist geography

Claudia Peralta Vasquez

Photos: Cesar Bissell Ramos

03/25/2024, Xalapa, Release- Fernanda Latani Meléndez, a graduate of the Bachelor's Degree in Geography from the University of Veracruzana (UV), recognized the contribution of women to this science since many of their contributions have become invisible.

The young woman, originally from the Ixtepec community, located on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, gave a presentation entitled “Towards a Geography of Gender and Inclusion”, as part of the commemorative activities for the 20th anniversary of this Educational Program (EP) dedicated to the Faculty of Economics.

Fernanda, the first graduate to build research from indigenous feminist geography, noted that although the existence of feminist geographers before the twentieth century cannot be determined with certainty, the great research and discoveries made by women through their geographical work have been able to produce many Contributions to telling science.

Although there is no figure who can be considered the “mother of modern geography”, as Alexander von Humboldt was recognized for many years as the father of modern geography, the young woman highlighted the importance of retrieving the memories and stories of female natural explorers. Who traveled to Latin America and the Caribbean, from the seventeenth century to the twentieth century.

The student and academic community of the Faculty of Economics listened to the Gender Geography Conference

“Many of these contributions have been made invisible, but of course there were women explorers and travelers,” the young woman who graduated from the aforementioned EP highlighted with her work to empower Nahua women in the face of male migration in the Great Mountains of Veracruz.

He said that some of these events are linked to some literary works, such as: Anglo-Saxon women in Mexico, Captive of Africa, Travelers between two worlds And Looks crossedNovels of travelers in Argentina.

She pointed out that feminist geography is permeated by a political stance, because feminism as it is is not just an ideology and a discourse as it can be seen today, but it stems from a social movement.

“It is called feminist geography because it starts from a high political connotation, while gender geography is more than anything else the ideological and methodological support.”

In response to the question: Where and how was feminist geography born, I mentioned that it appeared in Western Europe, and its first contributions came from French, Spanish, and English geographers, especially from the twentieth century, at the end of the sixties.

Presented during the conference to the student and academic community of the Faculty of Economics, in the hall of the aforementioned academic entity, Fernanda Latani, holder of a graduate degree in Geography from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in the Community and Territory area, expressed his interest in salvaging the contributions of traveling explorers.

The young woman from Oaxaca gave the presentation “Towards a Geography of Gender and Inclusion”

“In the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, we could not talk about the existence of feminist geographers, even the feminist movement was also biased towards class and elite views, and associated with the setting of these stories about female explorers, travelers, women who had certain privileges, who could sail, husbands , comrades, and a very few explorers.

She considered that alongside the recognition of geographers, there are women who, without being part of this field of study, also emphasized the production and creation of knowledge in the world of exploration and discovery.

“These are women in geography who also came before us, and it is important that we go back to them to learn about the challenges they were facing at that time.”

Latani Meléndez currently works as a public servant in the Ministry of Labour, Social Welfare and Productivity, as a change and decision-making agent to implement transcendent measures for dignified employment with a gender perspective and social inclusion in the Veracruz province.