As relações escravistas na historiografia da escravidão negra no Piauí

Abstract

The historiography of slavery in Piauí has developed through the contributions of various researchers, divided into different phases, reflecting the methodological and theoretical transformations of historiographic studies in the region. Initially, narratives were dominated by accounts produced by travelers who described slavery from a Eurocentric perspective. However, beginning in the 20th century, academic research began to address the topic using a more critical approach. This dissertation aims to analyze slave relations in Piauí from a historiographic perspective that considers different interpretations of the slave system, both in rural and urban settings. It is structured into two chapters. The first discusses the construction of classical historiography on slavery, highlighting the authors considered pioneers in the field and the dominant discourses that shaped the early understanding of the enslaved experience. The second chapter examines what is called the "new historiography," focusing on rural slavery, exploring the specificities of a slave-based economy centered on livestock farming, and the social dynamics that characterized the Piauí hinterlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. The final chapter analyzes urban slavery, seeking to understand the particularities of the enslaved experience in Piauí’s cities. The research adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, engaging with social history, anthropology, and cultural studies in order to provide a broader and more critical understanding of enslaved experiences and their representations in regional intellectual production.