Do quilombo ao candomblé: estratégias de mobilidade social de mulheres negras nos séculos XVIII e XIX brasileiro

Abstract

This monograph examines the social mobility strategies of black women in 18th and 19th century Brazil, focusing on the trajectories of Chica Machado, Luciana Teixeira, Rita Gomes da Silva, Marcelina da Silva, Francisca da Silva e Luiza Fernandes. Through an intersectional approach and biographical analysis, the study demonstrates how these women negotiated spaces of autonomy within a context marked by the slave system and colonial patriarchy. The research reveals that they utilized economic, familial, and religious networks – including trade, mining, manumission purchases, and leadership in quilombos and candomblé terreiros – to accumulate wealth and exert influence in their communities. The results challenge historiographical views that reduce the black experience to passivity, highlighting instead of these women's capacity for agency and resistance. It is concluded that their trajectories represent complex forms of and quilombamento, contributing to a reinterpretation of black women's role in Brazilian socioeconomic formation.