Dutra's World: Wealth and Family in Nineteenth-Century Rio de Janeiro

by Zephyr L. Frank

The relation of slavery to Brazil's economic and social history has long fascinated researchers. Zephyr Frank focuses on nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro, where almost half of the city's residents labored as slaves of diverse owners in a complex urban setting. Slavery persisted in the Brazilian city, in part, because it was entrenched among upwardly mobile entrepreneurs who hired their slaves out for wages, employed them in family businesses, and bought and sold them for profit. Changes in the institution of slavery and the economy of the city gradually limited access to slaves, constricting avenues of social mobility for slaveholders and transforming the lives of the slaves themselves. Frank uses the experiences of one person, Antonio José Dutra, as an example of a middling urban slaveholder. Dutra, a former slave himself, owned thirteen slaves whom he employed in his barbering business and musical band. Dutra's story is part of the larger picture Frank paints of those who owned slaves, how they fit into the social and economic development of Brazil, and what slaves and their owners did as slavery rose and then gradually declined in Rio de Janeiro. Frank traces social mobility, race, class, and slaveholding patterns, basing his analysis on inheritance records. Rich in detail, these records reveal layers of historical meaning regarding the accumulation of wealth, social mobility, family ties, and the social and cultural practices surrounding death.

Genres: History

246 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank sets out to bridge the gap between quantitative and qualitative research through his economic approach to understand wealth, family, slavery, and the “middling” class in nineteenth century Brazil. He lays out his complex argument in a way that appeals to specialists and non specialists alike. He draws from a plethora of sources to make his argument, though states that he uses estate records primarily, especially in reconstructing the world of Antonio Dutra.

While Frank states that he takes a microhistorical approach, he does not do so effectively. Microhistory draws on a single example and a limited number of sources to represent a larger trend in a given period or topic in history. The narrative of Dutra is haphazardly scattered about the book with little-to-no discussion of his life in the beginning of the book. Readers should not expect this book to explain Dutra’s story alone. Instead, Frank’s focus on economic history pairing with social and cultural history of Rio de Janeiro represents the strength of the work.

[Geena · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chapter called “family and gender” was a bit feeble but it might have been my fault for expecting something profound while the observable conclusion was basically just that single women were poor! luvvvv