Captivité et quotidien dans un milieu rural brésilien : le Sertão du São Francisco – Pernambouc (1840-1888)

Brazil was a major slave-holding country of the Americas, and slavery has left deep marks on Brazilian society. From abolition to the present, the representation of slavery has been elaborated and transformed, following the various historical moments experienced by the country itself. From the 1980s onwards, the context of theoretical and methodological renewal has opened the possibility of various approaches. Today, thanks to the proliferation of specific and regionally localized research, historians no longer consider the existence of a single model of slavery in Brazil, but a variety of practices adapted to the different realities of each region and social segment of the country. One of these approaches focuses on the presence of slaves in sectors and areas not directly related to the large agricultural production destined for exportation. The Sertão corresponds precisely to this kind of region, and the objective of this paper is to present the results of a punctual study on slavery in this backcountry area of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco during the 19th century. In fact, masters and slaves of this poor and remote region adapted the institution of slavery to their reality in a period of economic difficulties, thus giving a specific form to slavery in Sertão