Slaves, Peasants, and Rebels: Reconsidering Brazilian Slavery (Blacks in the New World)

Schwartz demonstrates the complexity of the slave system through a reconsideration of the themes of work, resistance, kinship, and relations between slaves and peasants. He provides new insights on the shifting power relationship between slaves and masters that constantly reshaped the contours of the country's society. One reason that Schwartz is the leading authority on colonial Brazilian social and economic history (especially slavery) is that he ranges widely, addressing comparative themes and reexamining traditional interpretations about society. This collection of essays reconsiders the critical issues of how the Brazilian slave system operated, how it coexisted with a parallel system of agriculture based on free labor, and by what means African and Afro-Brazilian slaves acted to shape their own lives. The articles in the volume were published earlier in different places, but they have been updated and modified. Moreover, together they combine to present a coherent and highly challenging overview of one of the most important questions about Brazil's past. The book is handsomely printed and thoroughly documented. Advanced undergraduate; graduate; faculty; community college. Stuart B. Schwartz. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.