Manifestations of Personhood. Self-Descriptions of Slaves in Nineteenth-Century Brazil

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ulrich Mücke
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 384353849

The project analyzes self-descriptions of enslaved people in nineteenth-century Brazil. It focuses on statements of the enslaved about their own persons in auto-documents, i.e. documents where people give evidence about themselves. Which role did bondage play in self-portrayals of enslaved people? How important were gender, social relationships, religion, work, material conditions, and legal settings? The project is part of a new social history of slavery in Brazil which puts the enslaved in the center of interest. In recent years, a growing number of historians have understood the enslaved as protagonists of their own history. Accordingly, auto-documents of enslaved people became more important for historical research. However, research has shown little interest in the way enslaved people described themselves. Analyzing the multifaceted statements found in self-descriptions of enslaved people, this project will benefit from methodological tools well-established in European research on autobiography and auto-documents. In so doing, the project aims to contribute to an understanding of the history of slavery in nineteenth-century Brazil which does not reduce the enslaved human beings to their state of bondage.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants