Miscegenation and African descent in the Atlantic context: abolitionist literature of the nineteenth century

• Grant number: 18/13697-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: November 01, 2018
• End date: February 28, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature
• Principal Investigator: Jefferson Cano
• Grantee: Ligia Cristina Machado
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/05283-7 - Race, Press and Literature in Nineteenth Century Transatlantic world, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This research will analyze a group of French, American and Brazilian literary works in the Atlantic context of development of Nineteenth Century abolitionists struggles. In the end of Eighteenth Century, French Revolution (1789), the propagation of the rights of liberty and equality strengthened the ideological principles that induced the Haitian Revolution (1791). In the United States and Brazil, a fear roses because of the slave nature of that revolution. Fear that the American slaves would become inspired by the events prolonged the time for it to be recognized as a country by The United States. Despite Haiti has been recognized as an independent nation by France in 1825, and by the United State in 1862, in the context of American Civil War. In Brazil, similar feelings concerned the deputies during the discussions about the end of the traffic between 1840 and 1850. In a recent research, Marco Morel has investigated how the news about the Haitian Revolution arrived to Brazil in the first decades of the Nineteenth century. The author also shows the transnational connections and the movement of ideas that occurred because of rhetoric that crossed the Atlantic. In context, this research intends to comprehend the abolitionist literary production developed during the Nineteenth Century, at same time when racist theories began to flourish that intended not only to limit the interaction between whites and blacks, but primarily ones of the diaspora. It's nearly impossible withdraw these questions of the post revolutionary era taking place on both sides of the Atlantic. Aiming to consider the longue durée, Braudel's work, this research will focus on the two landmarks of the abolition: the Haitian Revolution (1791) and the Brazilian abolition (1888), which was the last event ended the slavery created by the transatlantic trafficking of people. In the middle of this period, the American abolition and the edition of Uncle's Tom Cabin (1852), the bestselling by Harriet Stowe, had a profound impact on Brazilian abolitionist literary production. This was the first American novel with notable international circulation. It had sold a thousand of copies in the first year of publication in England and four concomitant translations for French. Only the bible had sold so many books. In 1853, the novel arrived in Brazil during the period which Brazilian literature was developing its national identity. These transnational connections had showed up several times in Brazilian literature. Gonçalves Dias did a direct reference to Bug-Jargal (1826), by Victor Hugo, in one of his poems. Theater performances and various short-stories were published in newspapers in an obvious rework of Uncle Tom's Cabin. José de Alencar was inspired by this book, in 1850s, to write Demônio Familiar and Mãe, as well as Bernardo Guimarães and Joaquim Manuel de Macedo was thinking in it for create A Escrava Isaura (1875) and Vítimas Algozes (1869), respectively. In 1892, Julia Lopes de Almeida was praised by A família Medeiros like a work that deserved be recognized as Brazilian Uncle Tom's Cabin. These are just a few examples of how the American book published in 1852 impacted abolitionist Brazilian production until the end of the nineteenth century. Thus, with a selection that intended considering the publish circulation and minorities produced we will study all Nineteenth Century abolition considering the historical events in the Big Picture of Atlantic. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MACHADO, Ligia Cristina. Rebels, christians, and revolutionaries: the role of the Haitian Revolution in the 19th century. 2022. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem Campinas, SP.