Written culture and materiality in colonial São Paulo (1765-1822)

• Grant number: 24/09996-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: November 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Maria Aparecida de Menezes Borrego
• Grantee: Jean Gomes de Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to study reading and writing practices and the materiality related to them in the city of São Paulo between 1765 and 1822. Through the research we aim to refute the idea constructed by traditional historiography of colonial São Paulo as a place where such practices were almost non-existent. To this end, we propose to analyze the private ownership and use of books, the written production of the city's inhabitants, the circulation of ideas and the functions and values attributed to writing in that society. By focusing on the relationship between individuals and the material world that surrounded them in the spaces of writing, reading and literate sociability, and the artifacts used in these actions, we understand the social practices mediated and shaped by these artifacts.