The puzzling contradictions of child labor, unemployment, and education in Brazil

Journal of Family History

Volumn 23, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 225-239

  Kuznesof, Elizabeth Anne ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0032118973     PISSN: 03631990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/036319909802300302     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. On Brazilian childhood, see Elizabeth Kuznesof, "Brazil," in Children in Historical and Comparative Perspective, eds. Joseph M. Hawes and N. Ray Hiner (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991); Gilberto Freyre, The Masters and the Slaves: A Study in the Development of Brazilian Civilization, trans. Samuel Putnam (New York: Knopf, 1946); and Mary del Priore (org.), Historía da Criança no Brasil (São Paulo: Editora Contexto, 1991).
2. On Brazilian childhood, see Elizabeth Kuznesof, "Brazil," in Children in Historical and Comparative Perspective, eds. Joseph M. Hawes and N. Ray Hiner (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991); Gilberto Freyre, The Masters and the Slaves: A Study in the Development of Brazilian Civilization, trans. Samuel Putnam (New York: Knopf, 1946); and Mary del Priore (org.), Historía da Criança no Brasil (São Paulo: Editora Contexto, 1991).
3. On Brazilian childhood, see Elizabeth Kuznesof, "Brazil," in Children in Historical and Comparative Perspective, eds. Joseph M. Hawes and N. Ray Hiner (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991); Gilberto Freyre, The Masters and the Slaves: A Study in the Development of Brazilian Civilization, trans. Samuel Putnam (New York: Knopf, 1946); and Mary del Priore (org.), Historía da Criança no Brasil (São Paulo: Editora Contexto, 1991).
4. On the study of childhood as Gilberto Freyre's prime scholarly motivation, see Jeffrey Needell, "Identity, Race, Gender and Modernity in the Origins of Gilberto Freyre's Oeuvre," American Historical Review 100, no. 1 (1995): 51-77.
5. Hugh Cunningham, "The Employment and Unemployment of Children in England c. 1680-1851," Past and Present 126 (1990): 115-50.
6. On the relationship of child labor to the decline of slavery in the United States, see Robert H. Bremner, John Barnard, Tamara K. Harevan, Robert M. Mennel, eds., Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History, vol. 2, 609-749 and especially 601-4. I want to thank Ray Hiner for bringing this source to my attention.
7. Archivo do Estado de São Paulo (AESP), S.H., Macos de populãçao para o capital 1836, caixa 37A. For a discussion of São Paulo censuses from 1765 to 1836, see Elizabeth Kuznesof, Household Economy and Urban Development: São Paulo 1765-1836 (Boulder: Westview Press, 1986).
8. Archivo do Estado de São Paulo (AESP), S.H., Macos de populãçao para o capital 1836, caixa 37A. For a discussion of São Paulo censuses from 1765 to 1836, see Elizabeth Kuznesof, Household Economy and Urban Development: São Paulo 1765-1836 (Boulder: Westview Press, 1986).
9. For a study on a similar policy for apprenticeships of orphans and abandoned children in nineteenth-century Ontario see Charlotte Neff, "Pauper Apprenticeship in Early Nineteenth-Century Ontario," Journal of Family History 21, no. 2 (April 1996): 144-71. Also see the study by Ann Blum on adoption and labor in Mexico in this issue.
10. Antonio Candido, Os Parceiros do Rio Bonito (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Jose Olympio, 1964), 23-9; Lia Freitas Garcia Fukui, "Parentesco e família entre sitiantes tradicionais" (Ph.D. diss., University of São Paulo, 1972), 237; Kuznesof, "Brazil," 37; Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz, Bairros rurais paulistas (São Paulo: Livraria Duas Cidades, 1973), 39-40; Jose Arouche de Toledo Rendon, "Reflexões sobre o estado em que se acha a agricultura na capitania de São Paulo," Documentos Interesantes 44 (1788): 196.
11. Antonio Candido, Os Parceiros do Rio Bonito (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Jose Olympio, 1964), 23-9; Lia Freitas Garcia Fukui, "Parentesco e família entre sitiantes tradicionais" (Ph.D. diss., University of São Paulo, 1972), 237; Kuznesof, "Brazil," 37; Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz, Bairros rurais paulistas (São Paulo: Livraria Duas Cidades, 1973), 39-40; Jose Arouche de Toledo Rendon, "Reflexões sobre o estado em que se acha a agricultura na capitania de São Paulo," Documentos Interesantes 44 (1788): 196.
12. Antonio Candido, Os Parceiros do Rio Bonito (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Jose Olympio, 1964), 23-9; Lia Freitas Garcia Fukui, "Parentesco e família entre sitiantes tradicionais" (Ph.D. diss., University of São Paulo, 1972), 237; Kuznesof, "Brazil," 37; Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz, Bairros rurais paulistas (São Paulo: Livraria Duas Cidades, 1973), 39-40; Jose Arouche de Toledo Rendon, "Reflexões sobre o estado em que se acha a agricultura na capitania de São Paulo," Documentos Interesantes 44 (1788): 196.
13. Antonio Candido, Os Parceiros do Rio Bonito (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Jose Olympio, 1964), 23-9; Lia Freitas Garcia Fukui, "Parentesco e família entre sitiantes tradicionais" (Ph.D. diss., University of São Paulo, 1972), 237; Kuznesof, "Brazil," 37; Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz, Bairros rurais paulistas (São Paulo: Livraria Duas Cidades, 1973), 39-40; Jose Arouche de Toledo Rendon, "Reflexões sobre o estado em que se acha a agricultura na capitania de São Paulo," Documentos Interesantes 44 (1788): 196.
14. Antonio Candido, Os Parceiros do Rio Bonito (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Jose Olympio, 1964), 23-9; Lia Freitas Garcia Fukui, "Parentesco e família entre sitiantes tradicionais" (Ph.D. diss., University of São Paulo, 1972), 237; Kuznesof, "Brazil," 37; Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz, Bairros rurais paulistas (São Paulo: Livraria Duas Cidades, 1973), 39-40; Jose Arouche de Toledo Rendon, "Reflexões sobre o estado em que se acha a agricultura na capitania de São Paulo," Documentos Interesantes 44 (1788): 196.
15. Kuznesof, Household Economy, 84.
16. AESP, Autos Crimes de Campinas, no. ordem 4050, caixa 22, processo 571, 18 julio 1859. For discussion of the common use of child labor in coffee, production, see also Thomas H. Holloway, Immigrants on the Land: Coffee and Society in São Paulo, 1886-1934 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), 75, and Joseph L. Love, São Paulo in the Brazilian Federation, 1889-1937 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1980), 76.
17. AESP, Autos Crimes de Campinas, no. ordem 4050, caixa 22, processo 571, 18 julio 1859. For discussion of the common use of child labor in coffee, production, see also Thomas H. Holloway, Immigrants on the Land: Coffee and Society in São Paulo, 1886-1934 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), 75, and Joseph L. Love, São Paulo in the Brazilian Federation, 1889-1937 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1980), 76.
18. AESP, Autos Crimes de Campinas, no. ordem 4050, caixa 22, processo 571, 18 julio 1859. For discussion of the common use of child labor in coffee, production, see also Thomas H. Holloway, Immigrants on the Land: Coffee and Society in São Paulo, 1886-1934 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), 75, and Joseph L. Love, São Paulo in the Brazilian Federation, 1889-1937 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1980), 76.
19. AESP, Fabrica de Ferro de Sorocaba, Ipanema, no. ordem 245, 1843, "Mapa dos servicios da Fabrica de Ferro de S. Joao de Ipanema."
20. AESP, Fabrica de Ferro de Sorocaba, Ipanema, no. ordem 247, docs. 50, 51, and 54. The records of the Ipanema Iron Foundry also relate how children were used to gather rocks to build walls and to grind corn for flour for the factory community.
21. Eni de Mesquita, "O Papel do Agregado na Região de Itu 1773-1830," Colecão Museu Paulista, Serie de Historia 6 (1977): 1-105; Alzira Lobo de Arruda Campos, "Os Agregados no Tempo dos Capitaes-Generais: O Exemplo de Cidade de São Paulo" (master's thesis, University of São Paulo, 1978), 54-71; Kuznesof, Household Economy, 156-7; Donald Ramos, "Vila Rica: Profile of a Colonial Brazilian Urban Center," Americas 35, no. 4 (1979): 514-16.
22. Eni de Mesquita, "O Papel do Agregado na Região de Itu 1773-1830," Colecão Museu Paulista, Serie de Historia 6 (1977): 1-105; Alzira Lobo de Arruda Campos, "Os Agregados no Tempo dos Capitaes-Generais: O Exemplo de Cidade de São Paulo" (master's thesis, University of São Paulo, 1978), 54-71; Kuznesof, Household Economy, 156-7; Donald Ramos, "Vila Rica: Profile of a Colonial Brazilian Urban Center," Americas 35, no. 4 (1979): 514-16.
23. Eni de Mesquita, "O Papel do Agregado na Região de Itu 1773-1830," Colecão Museu Paulista, Serie de Historia 6 (1977): 1-105; Alzira Lobo de Arruda Campos, "Os Agregados no Tempo dos Capitaes-Generais: O Exemplo de Cidade de São Paulo" (master's thesis, University of São Paulo, 1978), 54-71; Kuznesof, Household Economy, 156-7; Donald Ramos, "Vila Rica: Profile of a Colonial Brazilian Urban Center," Americas 35, no. 4 (1979): 514-16.
24. Eni de Mesquita, "O Papel do Agregado na Região de Itu 1773-1830," Colecão Museu Paulista, Serie de Historia 6 (1977): 1-105; Alzira Lobo de Arruda Campos, "Os Agregados no Tempo dos Capitaes-Generais: O Exemplo de Cidade de São Paulo" (master's thesis, University of São Paulo, 1978), 54-71; Kuznesof, Household Economy, 156-7; Donald Ramos, "Vila Rica: Profile of a Colonial Brazilian Urban Center," Americas 35, no. 4 (1979): 514-16. The excellent article by Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva, "O Problema dos expostos na capitania de São Paulo," Anais do Museu Paulista 30(1980/81): 147-58, focuses on abandoned children rather than agregados, but the argument is similar.
25. Eni de Mesquita, "O Papel do Agregado na Região de Itu 1773-1830," Colecão Museu Paulista, Serie de Historia 6 (1977): 1-105; Alzira Lobo de Arruda Campos, "Os Agregados no Tempo dos Capitaes-Generais: O Exemplo de Cidade de São Paulo" (master's thesis, University of São Paulo, 1978), 54-71; Kuznesof, Household Economy, 156-7; Donald Ramos, "Vila Rica: Profile of a Colonial Brazilian Urban Center," Americas 35, no. 4 (1979): 514-16. The excellent article by Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva, "O Problema dos expostos na capitania de São Paulo," Anais do Museu Paulista 30(1980/81): 147-58, focuses on abandoned children rather than agregados, but the argument is similar.
26. Ruth C.L. Cardoso, "Creating Kinship: The Fostering of Children in Favela Families in Brazil," in Kinship Ideology and Practice in Latin America, ed. Raymond T. Smith (Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1984), 196-203.
27. Kuznesof, Household Economy, 169-70.
28. Campos, "Os Agregados," 54-78; Mesquita, "O Papel do Agregado," 43; Kuznesof, Household Economy, 108, 156.
29. Campos, "Os Agregados," 54-78; Mesquita, "O Papel do Agregado," 43; Kuznesof, Household Economy, 108, 156.
30. Campos, "Os Agregados," 54-78; Mesquita, "O Papel do Agregado," 43; Kuznesof, Household Economy, 108, 156.
31. Kuznesof, Household Economy, 108.
32. Louise Tilly and Joan Scott, Women, Work and the Family (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1978), 13-14; Grant McCracken, "The Exchange of Children in Tudor England: An Anthropological Phenomenon in Historical Context," Journal of Family History 8, no. 4 (1983): 303-13. Kristin Gager notes that Parisian charity hospices placed children as servants and apprentices in households in the sixteenth century, as well as arranging adoptions. See "Women, Adoption and Family Life in Early Modern Paris," Journal of Family History 22, no. 1 (1997): 16.
33. Louise Tilly and Joan Scott, Women, Work and the Family (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1978), 13-14; Grant McCracken, "The Exchange of Children in Tudor England: An Anthropological Phenomenon in Historical Context," Journal of Family History 8, no. 4 (1983): 303-13. Kristin Gager notes that Parisian charity hospices placed children as servants and apprentices in households in the sixteenth century, as well as arranging adoptions. See "Women, Adoption and Family Life in Early Modern Paris," Journal of Family History 22, no. 1 (1997): 16.
34. Grant McCracken, "The Exchange of Children in Tudor England: An Anthropological Phenomenon in Historical Context," Journal of Family History 8, no. 4 (1983): 303-13. Kristin Gager notes that Parisian charity hospices placed children as servants and apprentices in households in the sixteenth century, as well as arranging adoptions. See "Women, Adoption and Family Life in Early Modern Paris," Journal of Family History 22, no. 1 (1997): 16.
35. Kuznesof, Household Economy, 157, 180.
36. Lenira Menezes Martínho, "Organizacão do trabalho e relacões sociais nas firmas comerciais do Rio de Janeiro: Primeira metade do seculo XIX," Revista do Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros 18 (1976): 41-62.
37. Stanley J. Stein, The Brazilian Cotton Manufacture: Textile Enterprise in an Underdeveloped Area 1850-1950 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957), 53-55; Love, São Paulo in the Brazilian Federation, 88; Eileen Keremitsis, "The Early Industrial Worker in Rio de Janeiro, 1870-1930" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1982), 65.
38. Stanley J. Stein, The Brazilian Cotton Manufacture: Textile Enterprise in an Underdeveloped Area 1850-1950 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957), 53-55; Love, São Paulo in the Brazilian Federation, 88; Eileen Keremitsis, "The Early Industrial Worker in Rio de Janeiro, 1870-1930" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1982), 65.
39. Stanley J. Stein, The Brazilian Cotton Manufacture: Textile Enterprise in an Underdeveloped Area 1850-1950 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957), 53-55; Love, São Paulo in the Brazilian Federation, 88; Eileen Keremitsis, "The Early Industrial Worker in Rio de Janeiro, 1870-1930" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1982), 65.
40. The most comprehensive source of legislation on orphans is Jose Pereira de Carvalho, Primeiras Linhas sobre o Processo Orphanologico, 9th ed. (legislation to 1865 added by Jose Joaquim de Macedo Soares) (Rio de Janeiro: Eduardo and Henrique Laemmert, 1880). More practical information on the lives of the orphans can be derived from Antonio de Paiva e Pona, Orphanologia Practica, em que se descreve tudo o que respeita ãos inventarios, partilhas e mais dependencias dos pupillos (Lisboa: Officina de Manoel Antonio Monteiro, 1959).
41. The most comprehensive source of legislation on orphans is Jose Pereira de Carvalho, Primeiras Linhas sobre o Processo Orphanologico, 9th ed. (legislation to 1865 added by Jose Joaquim de Macedo Soares) (Rio de Janeiro: Eduardo and Henrique Laemmert, 1880). More practical information on the lives of the orphans can be derived from Antonio de Paiva e Pona, Orphanologia Practica, em que se descreve tudo o que respeita ãos inventarios, partilhas e mais dependencias dos pupillos (Lisboa: Officina de Manoel Antonio Monteiro, 1959).
42. Repertório das ordenacões e leis do reino do Portugal (hereafter Ordenacões), 4 vols. (Coimbra, 1795), livro I, titulo 88, pars. 10-15. Also see the discussion in Joan Meznar, "Orphans and the Transition from Slave to Free Labor in Northeast Brazil: The Case of Campina Grande, 1850-1888," Journal of Social History 27, no. 3, (1994): 499-515. On abandoned children see Renato Pinto Venancio, "Infáncia Sem Destino: O abandono de criancas no Rio de Janeiro do Século XVIII" (master's thesis, University of São Paulo, 1988).
43. Repertório das ordenacões e leis do reino do Portugal (hereafter Ordenacões), 4 vols. (Coimbra, 1795), livro I, titulo 88, pars. 10-15. Also see the discussion in Joan Meznar, "Orphans and the Transition from Slave to Free Labor in Northeast Brazil: The Case of Campina Grande, 1850-1888," Journal of Social History 27, no. 3, (1994): 499-515. On abandoned children see Renato Pinto Venancio, "Infáncia Sem Destino: O abandono de criancas no Rio de Janeiro do Século XVIII" (master's thesis, University of São Paulo, 1988).
44. Repertório das ordenacões e leis do reino do Portugal (hereafter Ordenacões), 4 vols. (Coimbra, 1795), livro I, titulo 88, pars. 10-15. Also see the discussion in Joan Meznar, "Orphans and the Transition from Slave to Free Labor in Northeast Brazil: The Case of Campina Grande, 1850-1888," Journal of Social History 27, no. 3, (1994): 499-515. On abandoned children see Renato Pinto Venancio, "Infáncia Sem Destino: O abandono de criancas no Rio de Janeiro do Século XVIII" (master's thesis, University of São Paulo, 1988).
45. Ordenacões, livro 1, titulo 88 and livro 4, titulo 31.
46. AESP, Juíz dos Orphãos de São Paulo. Nineteenth-century cases include more than 3,000 documents. Research for this project focused on documents between 1830 and 1910, the period of the richest documentation.
47. See Meznar, "Orphans," for a parallel argument on northeastern Brazil.
48. Elvira Mari Kubo, A Legislação e a Instrução Publica de Primeiras Letras na 5a Comarca da Provincia de São Paulo (Curitiba: Secretário de Estado da Cultura e do Esporte, 1986), 41-50.
49. Primitivo Moacyr, A instrução e as províncias (São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 1936/40).
50. AESP, Instrução Publica Capital, no. ordem 5035, 5036, 1850-1870.
51. AESP, Instrução Publica Capital, no. ordem 5036, penha 12 October 1862.
52. AESP, Instrução Publica Capital, no. ordem 5035, 5036, 13 October 1864.
53. The works of Mary Kay Vaughan focus on similar issues with respect to the history of education in Mexico. See Vaughan, "Primary Education and Literacy in Nineteenth-Century Mexico: Research Trends, 1968-88," Latin American Research Review 25, no. 1: 31-66.
54. Ordenações, livro 4, titulo 102.
55. This concern about children and crime is also manifest in the criminal code of 1830 and its utilization for children from the age of seven. See Fernando Torres Londoño, "A Origen do Conceito Menor," in Priore, 129-45.
56. Alvara, 31 janeiro 1775.
57. Alvaras, 10 maio 1783, 6 diciembre 1802.
58. María Beatriz Nizza da Silva, "Educação Feminina e Educação Masculina no Brasil Colonial," Revista de História 109(1977): 149-64.
59. AESP, Juíz dos Orphãos de São Paulo, 1850, no. ordem 5453, caixa 105, doc. 4.
60. AESP, Juíz dos Orphãos de São Paulo, caixa 161, doc. 16, 17 junio 1900.
61. AESP, Juíz dos Orphãos de São Paulo, 1830, no. ordem 5413, caixa 83, doc. 6.
62. For other cases of contracts of tutors for young girls, see AESP, Juíz dos Orphãos de São Paulo, 1830, no. ordem 5413, caixa 83, doc. 6; 1852, no. ordem 5435, caixa 105, doc. 32; 1871, caixa 118, doc. 42; 1890, no. ordem 5473, caixa 143, Cap. Antonio Joaquim Sousa Pinheiro.
63. AESP, Autos Crimes de Campinas, no. ordem 3989, processo 1642, 1875. I want to thank Alzira Lobo de Arruda Campos for bringing this document to my attention.
64. AESP, Autos Crimes de Campinas, no. ordem 3989, processo 1642, 1875.
65. AESP, Juíz dos Orphãos, 1852, no. ordem 5435, caixa 105, doc. 32.
66. AESP, Juíz dos Orphãos de São Paulo, 1850, no. ordem 5435, caixa 105, doc. 32-40.
67. Elvira Mari Kubo, Etelvima Maria de Castro Trindade, Maria Cecilia Marins de Oliveira, Analise do Curriculo das Escolas do Ensino Primario e Secundario no Paraná (1853-1889) (Curitiba, 1987), 7, 35-36.
68. Kubo, A Legislação, 46.
69. Kubo, A Legislação, 51.
70. Elizabeth Kuznesof, "The History of Education in Nineteenth-Century Brazil," unpublished manuscript, 1968; Michael G. Mulhall, The Progress of the World (London: G. Routledge and Sons, 1880).
71. Elizabeth Kuznesof, "The History of Education in Nineteenth-Century Brazil," unpublished manuscript, 1968; Michael G. Mulhall, The Progress of the World (London: G. Routledge and Sons, 1880).
72. Love, "São Paulo," 94.
73. Clayton Sedgwick Cooper, The Brazilians and Their Country (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917), 100-103.