Joan of Arc: Contradictions of Female Heroism

Who was Joan of Arc? Was she a hero, a saint, a witch, a martyr, a patriot, a mentally ill person, or a visionary? Artists have depicted her in paintings, films, books, posters, sculptures. She is part of the Western imagination as a woman who challenged traditions and stereotypes and changed the course of French history during her short life. Contradictory ideas about her illustrate the fact that Joan of Arc is one of the most paradoxical historical figures and a symbol of female heroism.

This free presentation is presented by San Diego Oasis.

Oliva M. Espín is Professor Emerita in the Department of Women’s Studies at San Diego State University and the California School of Professional Psychology of Alliant International University. Dr. Espín was a pioneer in the practice and theory of feminist psychology and psychotherapy with women from different cultural backgrounds, for which she has received multiple awards from the American Psychological Association, the Association for Women in Psychology, and other professional organizations. A native of Cuba, she received her BA in Psychology from the University of Costa Rica and her PhD from the University of Florida. She did post-doctoral work at Harvard University with a fellowship from NIMH, studying Latina healers. Dr. Espín held the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Gender Studies at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Throughout her career, she has taught psychology of women, the psychology of immigrants and refugees, women saints, and other topics. She has presented at national and international conferences and published many articles and books on psychology and psychotherapy of Latinas, women immigrant and refugees, women’s sexuality, language in therapy with fluent bilinguals, historical memory and memoir, feminist and psychological understandings of the lives and writings of women saints. Her books include Gendered Journeys: Women, Migration, and Feminist Psychology (2015), Women, Sainthood, and Power: A Feminist Psychology of Cultural Constructions (2019), and My Native Land is Memory: Stories of a Cuban Childhood (2020).