Slavery and identity : ethnicity, gender, and race in Salvador, Brazil, 1808-1888

274 Pages·2003·5.936 MB·English

by  Mieko Nishida

Slavery and Identity
Blacks in the Diaspora
Founding Editors
Darlene Clark Hine, John McCluskey, Jr., and David Barry Gaspar
Editor
Claude A. Clegg III
Advisory Board
Kim D. Butler
Judith A. Byfield
Leslie A. Schwalm
Tracy Sharpley-Whiting
M I E K O N I S H I D A
Slavery and Identity
;
Ethnicity Gender, and
Race in Salvador, Brazil,
1808-1888
NDIANA
INDIANA
University Press
Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Fuss
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Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA
http ://iupre$s. indiana.edu
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C 2003 by Mieko Nishida
Ail rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
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system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University
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The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American Nation*]
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials» ANSI
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Library of Congrai Cataloging-ln-Publication Data
Nishida, Mieko, date
Slavery and identity: ethnicity, gender, and race in Salvador, Brazil, 1808-18&8 / Mieko Nishida.
p. cm. — (Blacks in the diaspora)
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
ISBN 0-253-34209-0 — ISBN 0-253-21581-1
1. Slavery—Brazil—Salvador—History— 19th century. 2. Slavery—Brazil—Salvador—Psychological
aspects. 3. Slaves—Brazil—Salvador—History—19th century. 4. Slaves—Brazil—Salvador—Social
conditions—19th century. 5. Slaves—Brazil—Salvador—Psychology. 6. Slaves—Brazil—Salvador—
Emancipation. 7. Africans—Brazil—Salvador—Ethnic identity. 1. Title. II. Series.
HTH29.S2 N57 2003
3o6.3#62'o98i—dcii
2002010944
12 3 4 5 08 07 06 05 04 03
To the memory of my grandmother
Kikuno Nishida (1909-1989)

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned
someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though
they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naive.
I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions
which I, only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful
boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else
appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself.
—Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
List of Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
1. A “Capital of Africa” in Brazil 11
PART ONE: TO BE AFRICAN-BORN AND ENSLAVED, CIRCA 1808-1831
2. The Creation of New Identity, 1808-1831 29
3. The Representation of Identity, 1808-1831 48
PART TWO: TO BE AFRICAN-BORN AND FREED, CIRCA 1808-1880
4. The Re-creation of Identity, 1808-1831 73
5. The Convergence of Identity, 1831-1880 92
PART THREE: TO BE BRAZILIAN-BORN, CIRCA l8o8-l888
6. The Creation of Disparate Identity, 1808-1851 123
7. The Labyrinth of Identity, 1851-1888 142
Conclusion 157
Glossary 167
Notes 169
Bibliography 227
Index 251