Neither Wrested nor Granted: Agency, Structure and the Reasons of the Brazilian Free Womb LawAbstract
The article intends to evaluate to which extend the enactment of the Brazilian Free Womb Law, in the 28th September 1871, derives from the emancipation granted to slaves in order to fight the Paraguayan War (1864-1870). A contrast has been established, on the one hand, between the historiographical literature that understands the emancipationist law as a reform-mongering tactic- and, therefore, as a government grant - adopted to avoid possible political disputes; and, on the other hand, the analytical views that perceive the 1871 law as a result of the agency of slaves, understood as rebellious contagion within the slave social layers. While a structural type of analysis underpins the first point of view, the second is embedded within the concept of individual agency in order to understand structural changes. Considering both perspectives, the article argues that reformist anticipations are not disconnected from possibilities of political agency: structural changes, thereafter, derive from expectations constituted when chances of social reversion are at stake.
Keywords Free Womb Law; Paraguayan War; structure; agency