A historian unveils the constitutive Brazilian nationality characteristics
Starting from a thorough screening of primary sources, Emília Viotti da Costa analyzes the singularity of the Colonial Period
In this essential book, the author demonstrates the abolition of slavery in Brazil was only a step into the liquidation of the colonial society, however, it greatly affected the old ruling class and crowned a transformation process that extended to the first half of the nineteenth century. Such process foreshadowed the transition from colonialist to capitalist society, from slave to wage labor, from monarchy to republic.
This work reexamines the social and economic structure of that period, during which a new ruling class, still predominantly agrarian, emerged with the proclamation of the Republic, a regime that best served their autonomy interests. This new, more dynamic oligarchy also took a stand alongside broader social and political sectors for the end of slavery, defended only by the backward and inefficient agrarian sectors at that time .
Taking a groundbreaking approach for the time the study was concluded (1964), Viotti demonstrates the expansion of coffee culture, at the end of the first half of the nineteenth century, was largely responsible for prolonging the slave trade and slavery regime. Its decadence, likewise, was closely related to the death throes of slavery in Brazil.
Until the publication of this book, most studies considered abolition as an exclusive result of abolitionist movements, placing vital importance to Emperor D. Pedro II and Princess Isabel and the emancipating laws sanctioned during their rule, without taking the social and economic demands of the time into consideration.
This perspective left fundamental questions unanswered, which the historian elucidates in this book: for example, what reasons led a parliament that represented slaveholders and slave traders to enact emancipatory legislation? Why didn’t slave masters take arms to defend their property, as in the south of the United States?
About the author – Emília Viotti da Costa graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences at University of Sao Paulo, where she also became a Professor. Forced to retire in 1969 by the military dictatorship, she taught at several universities in the United States, such as Tulane University and University of Illinois. At Yale University, she joined the faculty as Full Professor from 1973 to 1999. Viotti is the author of From Monarchy to the Republic [Da Monarquia à República]; The Abolition [A Abolição]; 1932: Contradictory Interpretations [1932: interpretações contraditórias]; Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood [Coroas de glória, lágrimas de sangue]; The Supreme Court and the Construction of Citizenship [O Supremo Tribunal Federal e a Construção da Cidadania], as well as several articles in specialized journals. She directed Unesp’s Revolutions of the 20th Century [Revoluções do Século 20] collection.
Title: From “Senzala” to Colony [Da senzala à Colônia]
Author: Emilia Viotti da Costa
Number of pages: 560
Format: 14 x 21 cm
ISBN: 9788539300334
Rights: worldwide free