Under the veil of the slave quarters: sociability and manumission strategies of the women of Arraial do Tejuco, 1725-1767
Arraial do Tejuco. Strategy. Slavery. Manumission. Sociability
The object of this dissertation is the analysis of different strategies that women in Arraial do Tejuco, in the years 1725-1767, used to achieve manumission, accumulate a certain amount of wealth and, when possible, occupy prominent positions in this society. For this, I tried to observe the social interactions established through marriage and concubinage of two specific demographic groups, female slaves and freed women, who had peculiarities in the context of a society that, in general, was based on a worldview of the Catholic Old Regime and which, locally, has established itself as one of the most important locations in Portuguese America. The analysis is made from parish documents of baptism, death and wills, allocated in the Ecclesiastical Archive of the Archdiocese of Diamantina - AEAD. Through such sources, it is possible to perceive the social ties established throughout their lives, as well as worldviews, impressions about life in the community, representations and descriptions of cultural practices