Tomar o próprio destino: infância abandonada, lei e trabalho doméstico na Bahia (1862-1912)

Abstract

This thesis investigates domestic workers and domestic work in the midst of the formation of the labor market, through different dimensions that formed the category of so-called “maids to serve”, based on the experiences built in the Asilo dos Expostos in the city of Salvador among the years 1862 and 1912. Through documents that make up short trajectories, literature, cartoons, poems, editorials, newspaper advertisements, laws, employment contracts and official documentation, I try to understand different aspects of this segment of the job market. The objective is to understand the role of orphans and the institution to which they were linked in the world of domestic work. Despite having constructed prejudiced conceptions about the maids, the literary texts and cartoons offered different contexts in which these conflicts could happen. This scenario helps to understand the “world of bosses” itself. I argue that the social and legal condition in which those exposed at Santa Casa were constituted, that is, as domestic workers, was part of a systematized action by the Asilo dos Expostos da Santa Casa, which acted in the labor market as a kind of agency of domestic services, achieving its objective of training maids seen as docile to offer them to employers, members of the city's elites and middle classes. The thesis works with a theoretical-methodological approach that analyzes racial tensions, gender inequalities and the diverse composition in the process of formation of the working class, based on different contract arrangements and experiences amid the dismantling of slavery until the post- abolition, in addition to observing the different aspects of this labor market, such as wages, attempts at regulation and restriction of freedom. Finally, based on the Asilo dos Expostos, I sought to develop a general overview of this market to better understand the paths of this labor category in the midst of the formation of the working class, especially to try to understand the circulation of orphans in comparison to other domestic workers. It was possible to observe that both were in the same location, in the central areas, where urban work was practiced, but that they responded to different dynamics of this large and diverse place.