Les petits-enfants de Joana, le mirage de l’autonomie et la reproduction de la dépendance devant les tribunaux (Laguna, Santa Catarina, XIXe siècle)

Abstract

Different conceptions of nationhood, particularly regarding the incorporation of freed and free blacks into citizenship, were contested in parliamentary debates, courts, and master-slave relationships throughout 19th century Brazil. Based on a civil suit started in 1877, in which ten young men accused the owner of their late grandmother of trying to reenslave them, the article discusses the political meanings of intermediate and ambiguous slave status, considering the transformations in Brazilian slavery from the 1840s to the 1870s.

Keywords

• slavery
• manumission
• citizenship
• enslavement
• freedpersons
• 19th century