The slave mother and the meanings of freedom. Cuba 1870-1880
Abstract
The design of female roles in the 19th century in Cuba took place amid great social tensions. The intellectuals who focussed their interest in the education of women as “angels and queens of the home” directed their discourses to the white female. Even today it would be impossible to speak about maternal feelings among women subjected to slavery without adopting reductionist positions, such as the one that justifies those women who murdered their children “because they preferred to see them dead rather than slaves.” This paper relies on documents that contain the voice and will of the slave mothers who design strategies of freedom with a more practical and real sense than these of the supposedly heroic attitudes aforementioned or the sublime “all or nothing” attitude.
Key words: slavery, motherhood, family, freedom.Downloads
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