Morelia city of light and silence

Abstract

When conducting studies about the exile of María Zambrano Alarcón in Mexico, scholars have based their examination on letters exchanged between the representatives of La Casa de España and the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, focusing their analysis on the academic reasons that could have motivated the philosopher's departure. However, institutional documents and letters that she exchanged with her correspondents make it possible to clarify and understand the political and feminist motivations behind Zambrano’s decision to leave Mexico. The pressing needs that disturbed María Zambrano in Mexico were not only economic: for her, the battle had ended and she accepted defeat. Instead of building a new belligerent trench in a masculine style, she gave way to the configuration of a philosophical thought that re- fused to accept restrictions and patriarchal exclusion from the cultural sphere in which the development of scientific, literary, and artistic innovations had brought positive changes to the lives of women.