THE SANTIDADE OF WOMEN

FEMALE RELIGIOSITY AND INDIGENOUS SLAVERY IN RECÔNCAVO BAIANO (1553 - 1595)

Abstract

This article discusses the trajectory of Iria Alves, an indigenous woman captured in the lower Paraguaçu River at a young age in the 1550s. Based on the documentation generated by the First Visitation of the Holy Office, sought to analyze your trajectory and network of sociabilities and how it is permeated with clues and traces about female religiosity and indigenous slavery in Recôncavo, in the second half of the 16th century. Adaptability mechanisms used by Iria, her successes, failures and new beginnings, were put into perspective in order to better understand the cycle of enslavement of indigenous peoples in the Captaincy of Bahia. Also sought to examine the wars waged against the natives, the different indigenous policies tested in the analyzed space and their violations, through reports from chroniclers and scholars of Lusitanian America. In addition, the inquisitors documentation was scrutinized, locating heterodox religious practices carried out by women of Amerindian descent. To do this, used methodological tools created by Microhistory and the Bahia School of Indigenous History. It can be seen that the wars waged by the outsiders destabilized the indigenous communities, generating rebellious reactions that involved the sacred. Furthermore, it was found that the adaptability of indigenous people to the new dominant system became commonplace.