In life and also at the time of death. What do nineteenth century death records from the Parish of Nossa Senhora da Penha de Corumbá tell (1847-1855)

Abstract

The history of Brazil is closely linked to a slavery regime, responsible for importing African slave labor into the country, which was in force for approximately four centuries. As occurred in many parts of Brazil, the state of Goiás also played an important role in the history of African slavery, proved by various manuscripts of different kinds, which mention slaves who lived in the region. This article aims to analyze both historically and linguistically a book of death records consisting of ecclesiastical documents, written down from 1847 to 1855, concerning the Parish of Nossa Senhora da Penha de Corumbá. The aim is to establish relations between the life expectancy of black slaves, those released and those freed, based on data such as gender and age of the deceased. In order to achieve the objective, we compiled an inventory with information about the people described in the records, based on the model proposed by Santos and Paula (2014) and compared the data obtained with studies that discuss the slavery period in Brazil, such as Libby and Paiva (2005), Paiva (2014), Salles (1992), among others. Based on an interface perspective of the studies of Philology, Linguistics and History, this study attempts to understand historical and cultural aspects recorded in the documents, and what characterizes them.