Banca de DEFESA: SCHEYLA TAVEIRA DA SILVA

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : SCHEYLA TAVEIRA DA SILVA
DATE: 17/04/2026
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: VIDEOCONFERÊNCIA
TITLE:

"Always remember that you are the first foundational stones of this great edifice": sociability, economy, and administration in the Convent of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Saint Teresa (Rio de Janeiro, 1780- 1833).

KEY WORDS:

Convent of Santa Teresa; female agency; convent economy; religious patrimony; institutional memory.

PAGES: 142
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: História
SUMMARY:

This thesis analyzes the Convent of Santa Teresa in Rio de Janeiro between 1781 and 1833, investigating the role of the nuns in institutional formation, internal administration, and the development of convent patrimony. The study examines the women who composed the so-called “four first generations” of nuns, a category created by the religious community itself, interpreting it as a tool for constructing institutional memory and affirming symbolic continuity based on the figure of Jacinta de São José, regarded as the convent’s founder. Analysis of the sources reveals that convent memory produced a selective narrative that privileged certain individuals and events, reinforcing Jacinta’s centrality while downplaying the prominence of other prioresses. At the same time, it established a generational succession grounded in religious profession. The research also investigates the relationships between prioresses and various male authorities, both ecclesiastical and secular, such as bishops, syndics, procurators, and visitors, highlighting the existence of a complex system of control and surveillance over convent life. From a gender perspective and through the analysis of administrative and legal documentation, the study identifies forms of female agency in the management of religious life, the daily governance of the cloister, and institutional negotiations with authorities and external agents. Furthermore, the thesis examines the functioning of the convent economy, demonstrating that the maintenance of the community depended on multiple sources of income, including dowries, stipends, donations, and the sale of goods produced by the nuns, as well as a significant set of real estate operations, such as leases, emphyteusis contracts, ground rents, transfer fees, and rentals, which contributed to the formation and consolidation of the convent’s patrimony. The analysis of these practices reveals the institution’s integration into local networks of sociability and highlights the symbolic and material influence exercised by the convent over its urban surroundings. Finally, the study observes that the establishment of the Portuguese court in Rio de Janeiro from 1808 onward had an impact on the convent’s economy, particularly through the occupation of convent properties by the Crown and delays in payments made by the Royal Treasury. It concludes that the Convent of Santa Teresa constituted a space of interaction between religious power, political authority, and legal practices, in which the nuns exercised significant forms of administrative, economic, and symbolic agency, despite being subject to structures of control and to the social and political transformations of Rio de Janeiro society between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 386989 - MARGARETH DE ALMEIDA GONCALVES
Interna - 1718370 - LUCIANA MENDES GANDELMAN
Externa à Instituição - LIGIA BELLINI - UFBA
Externa à Instituição - MÁRCIA MARIA MENENDES MOTTA - UFF
Externo à Instituição - WILLIAM DE SOUZA MARTINS - UFRJ