The Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies organises the DOING GENDER Lecture Series in cooperation with her partners. These lectures stress the importance of doing gender work combined with an active involvement in the practice of gender theory and research. The concept of DOING GENDER supports a hands-on approach to gender issues in the sense of social and political engagement with the new forms of gender inequalities that are taking shape in the world today. The lecture series wants to give space to the new generations of gender theorists and practitioners and to perspectives that innovate the field and do gender in new ways. Key is the notion of doing gender: what is the state of the art definition of gender? How do contemporary scholars and activists utilise this definition?

On Friday May 8, 2026, Dr. Zaida Capote Cruz will give a Doing Gender Lecture entitled Universes of Cuban Feminism in the 20th Century: Women in Revolution.

This lecture is jointly organized with the In/Equality Platform.

The Doing Gender Lecture series for 2025-2026 will be framed around the theme of Feminist Solidarity in Times of War.

Lecture Universes of Cuban Feminism in the 20th Century: Women in Revolution
What have women done during the Cuban Revolution, and what has the Revolution done for Cuban women? My talk offers a historical overview of Cuban women’s struggle for their rights and the scope of their emancipation throughout the 20th century. Engaging with the work of several Cuban authors in film and literature, it explores key milestones achieved by Cuban feminists since the 1959 Revolution and traces the evolving place of women in Cuban society up to the present day, with all its ongoing uncertainties.

Biography
Zaida Capote Cruz (Havana, 1967) is a senior researcher at the José Antonio Portuondo Valdor Institute of Literature and Linguistics (National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM – location Havana, Cuba), where she coordinates the Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda Chair and leads a project on Cuban feminist journals between 1900 and 1958. She is also a member of the Cuban Academy of Language (Academia Cubana de la Lengua).
Her work focuses on Latin American narrative and essay writing, archival research and critical editions, as well as cultural analysis related to the history of feminism in Cuba and the representation of women.

She has published the books Vindictas. Cuentistas cubanas (2025), El ensayo y la crítica literarios de la diáspora cubana. Índice bibliográfico (2023), Estado crítico (2023), Tribulaciones de España en América. Tres episodios de historia y ficción (2021), Loynacianas (2017), La nación íntima (2007), Contra el silencio. Otra lectura de Dulce María Loynaz (2005), and Tres ensayos ajenos (1994).

Doing Gender Lecture by Dr. Zaida Capote – in English and Spanish

Friday May 8, 2026
Lecture: Universes of Cuban Feminism in the 20th Century: Women in Revolution
Time: 17:15 – 19:00 hrs.
Location: Utrecht – Janskerkhof 15A, room 0.04
Chair: Jamila Mascat
Registration: registration is appreciated. Send an email to nog@uu.nl with your name and affiliation.

Background reading: (PDF available upon request): tba