Isabel Alonso
| Isabel Alonso | |
|---|---|
| File:Foto Isabel Alonso Dávila.jpgFoto Isabel Alonso Dávila.jpg | |
| Born | November 23, 1953 (71 years) |
| 🏳️ Citizenship | Spanish |
| 🏫 Education | University of Valencia University of Granada |
| 💼 Occupation | Historian, Professor, and Writer |
| 👔 Employer | Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia
Ministry of Education of Spain Autonomous University of Barcelona |
| Agent | Member of the Right to Die with Dignity Network |
Isabel Alonso Davila (born November 23, 1953) was a historian, professor, promoter, and Spanish writer. During the last stage of Francoism, she participated in the student
Trajectory
She was born in a wealthy family, her father was a notary. She started experiencing gender discrimination which was common in that time, having to collaborate with domestic tasks while none of her 7 brothers were forced to do so. She studied in "Colegio de las Esclavas" in Salamanca later in the Institute "Lucia de Medrano". At that time she came in contact with anti-Franco University circles through the brothers of a friend, the Moneo family.
In 1967, she moved in with her family in Villanova de la Ribera and in Valencia, she formed part of groups committed to the anti-Franco struggle. In 1970, she enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Valencia, and under the influence of Joan Regla's history classes, she decided to become politically involved. On the other hand, one of her classmates, Luis Navarro, joined the clandestine organization of the Communist Party of Spain, where his warrior name was "Concha".
3 times she was arrested, imprisoned, and prosecuted by the Public Order Court, while being pregnant her last time. After the first arrest, her name was added to the list of students who were not issued a certificate of good conduct or a passport without the approval of the General Directorate of Security, so she sometimes had to travel with a false passport. Also, she was disciplined by the rector's office and was banned from entering the cells for disrupting and threatening academic disciplines.
On October 14, 1972, she faced a threat from her parents to transfer her academic records to Murcia at the end of the academic courses, therefore she decided to get married and move in with her husband in Granada, where she enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Granada. She resumed her political activism and participated in various college demonstrations that led to her being arrested two more times, the last one which was on October 10, 1975, shortly after receiving her degree in history while pregnant. This protected her from physical torture although she had other punishments for example having longer interrogations. After 8 days of being in the police station she appeared before the provincial court, and the judge ordered her provincial imprisonment without bail and the opening of proceedings in the Public Order Tribunal, accused of illicit association. However, she was never tried because she was pardoned on November 25, 1975, five days after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, while she was out on provisional release.
Once free she continued her commitment to the labor movement and came into contact with feminist groups such as the Women's Committee of the Benicalap Neighborhood Association and the Democratic Women's Movement of the Valencia Country, of which she was a representative in the Coordinator of Women's Groups of Valencia and at the United Nations International Women's Year National Meeting held in Madrid in 1975.
Her labor trajectory started in an editorial world working in a editing company Fernando Torres, but majority of her life she dedicated it to teaching being a full time Geography and History teacher at the high school in Barcelona IES Verdaguer (Ciudadela), Miquel Tarradell (El Raval), and Sant Andreu (Nou Barris) as well as in abroad, specifically in Spaniard schools in Paris, London, Rosario, or Maglie.
She has also been a professor associated at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where she was also part of research groups focused on the presence of women and men in media. She participated in the organization of the first national conference on the inclusions of women in the history taught, known under the name of Social Sciences, and exclusionary discourse, which was held at the University of Valencia in 1989.
From 2016 to 2020 she was the president of the association Dret a Morir Dignament de Catalunya (DMD-Cat). She became the vice president of the DMD-Cat and coordinator of the Pedagogy Commission of Memory of the Catalan Association of Political Experts of Francoism.
Throughout her life she has published numerous individual studies and articles or as co-author, which is some cases has received recognition, such as a 3rd prize in the first edition (1988) of the Emilia pardo Bazan National Award for non-sexist educational materials from the Ministry of Education, and on two occasions, the March 8 Award form the Barcelona City Council. After retiring, she wrote the novel "Como un Pulso", published by the Caligrama imprint of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial. A story in which she blends real events from her own life with fictional characters and situations to show how Spain is at that time and the end of the Franco dictatorship and during the first years of the transition and democracy. She has contributed to various print and digital publications such as "Publico, Hojas de Debate, Con-Ciencia Social, and Calanda". In 2024, she joined the editorial team of the Social Sciences magazine "Mientras Tanto".
She has undertaken the task of recovering the archives of her police and judicial records, which she has made public on her blog "La atraccion del archivo: en busca de un Pasado."
("The Attraction of the Archive: In Search of a Past")
Awards
In 1990 she won the 4th prize on March 8 - Maria Aurelia Campany from the Barcelona City Council, together with her colleagues Ginesa Albadalejo and Maria Josep Edo, for their civic engagement initiative led by women titled From Oblivion to Memory: Women Speak Out. This award, established in 1987 and named in honor of the writer Maria Aurelia Capmany, aims to recognize initiatives and projects dedicated to defending and promoting women's rights, while also providing financial resources and institutional support to help carry out the winning projects.
In 2004 she won the 18th prize on March 8 - Maria Aurelia Capmany from the Barcelona City Council, whose motto was "Young Women: Promote and Encourage the Presence of Young Women in All Areas of the City," awarded the project "Let's Get to Know Those Who Already Participate, Let's Participate Ourselves," submitted by Alonso, together with M.Jesus Franco Gonzalez and Sara Abadia Parilla.
In 2022, the Barcelona City Council was recognized thirty people as victims of repression during the late Francoist period for having suffered violations of their right to life and to physical, moral, or sexual integrity in the course of their struggle to defend and restore democratic, trade union, national, or Catalan self-government rights, or gender equality, between 1960 and 1978. Among these individuals was Alonso. This recognition takes the form of an administrative resolution without any financial payment or compensation, but it can serve as supporting evidence in a judicial proceeding.
Works
- 1989 - Another View of the British Industrial Revolution: The Presence of Women. Co-authored with Mila Belichon. Institut Valencia de la Dona. ISBN 84-75-79-857-8. Third Prize of the National Emilia Pardo Bazan Award for non-sexist educational materials, granted by the Ministry of Education.
- 1989 - 1789-1793: The Voice of Women in the French Revolution. Complaint Notebooks and Other Texts. Co-authored with Mila Belichon. Published by La Sal. ISBN 2-72-100381-X.
- 1990- The Presence of Women in the History of Catalonia. Educational Materials. Generalitat of Catalonia, Department of Education, Directorate-General for Curriculum Planning and Educational Innovation.
- 1992 - In Their Own Words: The Postwar Period in the Historic Center of Alicante. Co-authored with Cristina Sanchez. Estudios Municipales, City Council of Alicante. ISBN 84-87367-26-7
- 2002 - The Republic of Women. Cinema Gives Us Clues. Co-authored. ISBN 987-95502-2-6.
- 2004 - The Representation of Relationships Between Women and Men and of Generational Change in the Press from 1974 to 2004. In collaboration. Institute for Women, Madrid, and the University of Barcelona (digital publication)
- 2020 - Like a Pulse. Caligrama Editorial. ISBN 9788418203077
- 2022 - The Postwar Was Worse Than the War: The 1940's and 1950's in the Old Quarter of Alicante. Co-authored with Cristina Sanchez. University of Alicante. ISBN 978-84-1302-162-1.
- 2024 - Plaza de los Lobos (1968–1977): Memories of Anti-Francoist Students at the University of Granada. University of Granada. ISBN 978-84-338-7299-9. Book coordinator and author of the chapter "The BPS Raided Our Homes. And What Did They Find...Books! And Writings That Spoke of Freedom."
External links
- Isabel Alonso Davila and Dialnet
- Personal blog of Isabel Alonso Davila. "The attraction of the archive: In search of the past
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