PROFILES OF EDUCATORS JUANA P. MANSO (1819–1875) Myriam Southwell I know that in the period I live in, in my country I am an orphan soul or an exotic plant unable to acclimatize. (Juana Manso, letter to Mary Mann, 1869.) We have a sad experience of how important it is to spread learning to the masses. If this had been the first step after May 1810, and if there had been a clean break with the traditions of the past to emancipate reason as all men had been emancipated, perhaps neither so much blood would have soaked these lands; nor so many tears been shed. (Manso, 1854.) Juana Paula Manso, who was born in Buenos Aires on 26 June 1819 and died on 24 April 1875 in the same city, was a writer, translator, journalist, teacher and precursor of feminism in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. In 1840 she moved with her family to Montevideo (Uruguay), exiled under the regime of Juan Manuel de Rosas, who was governing the territory of the United Provinces of the River Plate. During RosasÕ con- servative government in Argentina, liberals were persecuted and many had to flee into exile. Subsequently, due to political pressure from Rosas, the Manso family moved to Rio de Janeiro, returning some time later to Montevideo. In Rio de Janeiro, Juana married Original language: Spanish Myriam Southwell (Argentina) Ph.D., Department of Government, University of Essex, UK; Master in Social Sciences, FLACSO. Associate Professor of History of Argentine and Latin American Education, National University of La Plata. Author of various works on issues in educational history, theory and policy, the most important of which is Psicologı `a experimental y ciencias de la educacio ´n: notas de historias y fundaciones (2003). She has held various executive posts in both in university management and in government. She is currently Researcher in Education and Co-ordinator of the Comparative Educational Policies Project connected with the agreement between FLACSO and the Union of Educators of the Province of Cordoba. E-mail: msouthwell@flacso.org.ar. Prospects, vol. XXXV, no. 1, March 2005