Marlen Donají Palma Silva, postdoctoral researcher, participated in two academic events in Mexico, presenting her research on women’s authority in colonial Oaxaca.
On 29th August 2025, she presented “El cacicazgo en clave femenina en el valle de Oaxaca: Doña Juana de Lara y su linaje (siglos XVII-XVIII)” at the research seminar “Mujeres en los márgenes. Género, sexualidad y poder en Iberoamérica, siglos XVI-XIX”, organized by the Institute of Historical Research, UNAM. The session included comments by Sara Guengerich (Texas Tech University). Programme available here.
Shortly after, on 4 September 2025, she joined the colloquium “Mujeres indígenas y afromexicanas: perspectivas etnohistóricas” at the DETH-INAH, where she delivered the paper “Cacicas en los márgenes del archivo: poder femenino indígena en Cuilapa y el Valle de Oaxaca (siglos XVI-XVIII)” This panel highlighted new approaches to women’s leadership and political agency in colonial Mexico. Programme available here.
Through these contributions, Palma Silva emphasized the importance of rethinking women’s roles in indigenous governance and the complexity of female power in the colonial period.
