Creating relationships: Africans between marriage and slavery in the 18th century Mariana (1720-1770)

• Grant number: 23/13876-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Aldair Carlos Rodrigues
• Grantee: Natã Freitas
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/17673-2 - The Freedom of the Sacrament of Marriage for the Enslaved and the Practice of Purchasing a Man to Marry in Eighteenth-Century Colonial Brazil (Mariana, Minas Gerais), BE.EP.MS

Abstract

The aim of this project is to study mixed-status marriages in the colonial period based on the matrimonial relationships formed by black freedwomen who married their own slaves in the Mariana region in the mid-18th century. Focusing on the freed African women who bought a man to marry, we will analyze their agency in these arrangements and the influence of demographic conditions on the marriage strategies of Africans. Additionally, we will examine the possible conflicts and tensions between this marital format and the ideals of Catholic marriage. In this context, men and women were understood to have relevant social distinctions, placing them in a hierarchical relationship with distinct and unequal expectations between the sexes.