Conceiving Freedom: Women of Color, Gender, and the Abolition of Slavery in Havana and Rio de Janeiro

摘要

Relying heavily on judicial sources concerning freedom claims made by women in Havana and Rio de Janeiro during the 1870s and 1880s, this illuminating study places women at the centre of slaves' emancipation efforts and shows how slavery, emancipation and freedom were gendered, in theory as well as practice. The enslaved and free(d) women who populate the pages of this book occupied the lowest rungs of their respective societies, yet they engaged with authorities, patrons and slave owners in protracted negotiations to claim their personal rights or those of their children. Camillia Cowling makes a convincing case that their actions were in many ways collective, as they were grounded in networks of communication and support that shared information, provided material assistance and facilitated contacts with institutions, authorities and sympathetic mediators. These collective efforts were linked to broader Atlantic debates about slavery and emancipation and helped shape social understandings of freedom, gender and citizenship. Humble and destitute these women were, but their actions were consequential beyond the relatively narrow limits of their own individual claims.