GODPARENTHOOD AMONG SINGLE MOTHERS: FEMALE AGENCY AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS AT BAPTISM (PARISH OF NOSSA DA APRESENTAÇÃO/RN 1760 - 1807)

• Grant number: 23/08617-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Ana Silvia Volpi Scott
• Grantee: Alekssiane Lima de Carvalho
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/09259-1 - Expanding theoretical-methodological perspectives for the study of single women, spiritual relationship and female agency in the Ibero-American context: Rethinking the case of the Parish of Nossa Senhora da Presentação/RN (1760 - 1807), BE.EP.MS

Abstract

This project proposes to study the godparent relationships between single mothers (free, freed and enslaved) who lived in the Parish of Nossa Senhora da Presentation, located in the captaincy of Rio Grande do Norte, between the years 1760 and 1807. takes into account the specificity of the area and period that characterized the parish and the captaincy itself, as well as the availability and qualities of the sources that will be used. Living in a multiethnic and highly hierarchical society, it is assumed that these women - single mothers, who had natural children - faced more vulnerable conditions when compared to married women and mothers of legitimate children. Considering, therefore, the current social dynamics in that locality, it is intended to analyze, from its agencies, how single mothers could use this Catholic ritual, to modify the situation of greater vulnerability, resulting from the social condition of disadvantage and inequality, in a society where the percentages of illegitimacy are high, when compared to other societies of the Old Regime. The central question is to analyze how they appropriated the bonds built through godparenthood, aiming to take advantage of the social and solidarity networks fed through that ritual of the Catholic Church. To operationalize these analyses, we opted for a quantitative and serial analysis of the baptism records of single mothers of natural children, in order to study their profile and characteristics. From there, it is intended to follow the reproductive trajectory of some of them, crossing with other sources such as marriage records and wills.