The Boundaries of Freedom
Slavery, Abolition, and the Making of Modern Brazil
Brodwyn Fischer editor Keila Grinberg editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:17th Mar '22
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This collection features prominent scholars discussing Brazilian slavery and abolition, highlighting their significance in shaping modern Brazil. It offers a fresh perspective on historical debates, making it accessible to English-language readers.
The Boundaries of Freedom is a significant compilation that presents the work of prominent scholars focused on Brazilian slavery and its abolition. This collection highlights the deep influence that slavery has had on Brazil's social, political, and institutional development. For the first time, English-speaking audiences can access a cohesive set of arguments that have reshaped the understanding of Brazilian slavery, making it a vital resource for those interested in this critical aspect of history.
The book emphasizes the central role of slavery, abolition, and Black identity in the creation of modern Brazil, which was the largest and most enduring slave society in the Americas. Over a period of more than four centuries, nearly five million enslaved Africans were brought to Brazil, making slavery a fundamental part of the nation’s colonial and national narrative. The essays within this volume explore how slavery transcends temporal and geographical limits, offering insights into its pervasive impact on various facets of Brazilian life.
Through fifteen carefully curated essays, The Boundaries of Freedom introduces readers to a transformative wave of scholarship that has emerged in recent decades. This work challenges long-held beliefs regarding the connections between slavery and law, property, sexuality, and family dynamics. It also reexamines concepts related to slave economies and engages with themes of agency, autonomy, and freedom. By placing Brazil's experience in conversation with the global legacies of slavery, this book opens up a vibrant field of study for English-language readers, enriching their understanding of this complex historical landscape.
'This pathbreaking volume reveals and refines the signature methods that have placed the 'Brazilian school' at the forefront of Latin American historiographies of slavery, abolition, and post-emancipation societies. Moving nimbly between broad processes and lived experience, contributors offer new perspectives, from the South Atlantic, on the urgent question of how dynamics rooted in slavery persist so powerfully after slavery's end.' Paulina L. Alberto, author of Black Legend: The Many Lives of Raúl Grigera and the Power of Racial Storytelling in Argentina
'The Boundaries of Freedom makes available in English the best scholarship being done on slavery, emancipation, and their legacy in Brazil. The themes of illegal enslavement, the precariousness of freedom, and the afterlives of slavery are Atlantic in scope, thus inviting dialogue and comparison with studies on slavery and race in the US and the Caribbean.' Sidney Chalhoub, Harvard University
'A remarkable volume on the end of Brazilian slavery by some of the best scholars who write on that subject. They examine the complexities and social costs of slavery and abolition not only on politics, law, and economy, but also on the culture and the intimate lived experience of all touched by slavery and its heritage of racism. Required reading for anyone interested in slavery's legacy in the Atlantic world.' Stuart B. Schwartz, Yale University
'Throughout the nineteenth century, Brazil was simultaneously home to an economy still dependent on enslaved labor and the transatlantic slave trade, and a rapidly growing free population of African descent. These extraordinary circumstances are the basis for the complex and fascinating histories of struggle over questions of liberty, property, and identity that fill the pages of this exciting collection of essays.' Barbara Weinstein, New York University
ISBN: 9781108831536
Dimensions: 235mm x 157mm x 34mm
Weight: 885g
329 pages