Aos órfãos que ficaram: estratégias e práticas educativas dos órfãos de famílias abastadas da Comarca do Rio das Velhas (1750-1800)

Abstract

This dissertation is intended to analyze strategies and educational practices of wealthy families of orphans living in the Comarca do Rio das Velhas (Capitania de Minas Gerais) in the second half of the eighteenth century. The forms of occupation and exploitation have characteristics which are peculiar to the Capitania de Minas Gerais. The large presence of african descendants and the dynamics of mining, coupled with a strong urbanization and at the same time a developed agriculture, provide unique ways to society of the Comarca do Rio das Velhas, especially in the eighteenth century, which was, in Minas, a society in constant motion, and whose individuals were active on their own history. For these reasons, the context of this substantial region develops the theme proposed in this research. The search for evidences of educational practices was done by discussing how education was seen during the period, through legislation and historiography. Understanding those practices as being any relationship where there is transmission of knowledge and changes on the behavior of the individuals involved in a concrete manner. Also, understanding strategies and actions of groups or individuals who were seeking such practices. For that matter, it was necessary to develop a research that combines quantitative and qualitative methods. The first one consists of developing a database of 488 post-mortem inventories refering to the second half of the eighteenth century, allocated in the Museu do Ouro IBRAM / Sabara, MG, and data analysis of these documents, which allowed the profile composition of the studied individuals, as well as their educational practices. These data helped developing qualitative analysis and case studies, which show the strategies of orphans and their families in search of education and, in some cases, how these families helped in the social integration of these individuals. The study makes it possible to focus on the strategies and educational practices of a group which is still poorly studied by the History of Education: orphans of wealthy families. Even not being particular to this group only, this research was able to notice that those strategies and educational practices were different from the ones related to the orphans of poorest families in the same society.