Matriz africana: experiências históricas e culturais da população negra no Seridó colonial (1720 – 1822)

Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand, within the context of colonial society, the forms of integration and ways of life of the population identified as Black in the Seridó region, a backcountry region located on the threshold of the captaincies of Rio Grande and Paraíba. The study focuses on the group studied comprehensively, encompassing all legal statuses (captives, freedmen, and free) between 1720 and 1820. It seeks to deepen knowledge about the group under study, breaking with stereotypical or ill-founded views related to a triple stigmatization: the insignificant contingent of people of African descent in the region; the passivity of captives and other people identified as Black; and the near exclusivity of Lusitanians and their descendants in the cultural and political configuration of Seridó. In this sense, the chronological framework is justified by covering the period from the moment in which the region definitively acquired colonial features, through the economic and social transformations that occurred over time, until the emancipation of Brazil from Portugal, which provided new parameters for political and social relations. Does not fail to consider connections with neighboring regions and other spaces in the "Atlantic World." It also defends the idea that the experiences of women and men of African descent in colonial Seridó have specificities that still need to be elucidated, in addition to having contributed significantly to the development of the region as a stage for social, cultural, and political relations. Therefore, the central focus of this work is to understand how Africans and their descendants, who experienced life in the region in question, were able to resist an oppressive context, build life expectations, and manage, to the extent possible, their realization. Thus, it tests the hypothesis of these individuals and groups as colonizers and not as a passive mass of workers. In this way, it is hoped to contribute to a better understanding of the historical processes in which the Seridó population participated, especially those identified as Black.