Escritos insubordinados entre escravizados e libertos no Brasil1

Abstract

In this article we analyze some collective texts produced by slaves and freedmen. Based on the Treaty of Santana of the Captaincy of Bahia (1789), the papers found with Islamized Africans and their repercussions in the Imperial Court (1835 and 1836), the declaration of the rebellious mocambeiros in Viana, Maranhão (1867) and the Commission of Libertos sent to Ruy Barbosa, Rio de Janeiro (1889), we analyze the expectations and wishes of slaves and freedmen expressed in their writings, literacy studies and circulation of knowledge. We consider the various meanings of writing itself in these episodes and in the guarantee of freedom, the maintenance of customary rights, the negotiation of daily conflicts and the perceptions of a slave-bound society.