Writing and social behavior: Dom Obá II in the pages of Rio de Janeiro 19th century newspapers

Abstract

This article aims to focus on the writings of Candido da Fonseca Galvão (1845-1890), Dom Obá II d’África, as a strategy for visibility and social mobility. Galvão was a free black man during slavery Brazil. Son of a free African of Yoruba origin, he published a series of articles in newspapers of Rio de Janeiro in the late nineteenth century. This case study is theoretically based on historical sociolinguistics in dialogue with studies related to social history, a historiographic trend that uses evidence from various aspects of the diverse agents of everyday history, especially those participating in subordinate roles in history, the so-called “history from below”. The social meaning assigned to the writings by Cândido Galvão is an important element to discuss the use of language as a social behavior (Labov, 2008 [1972]), especially the desire for social mobility. The writings of this individual of the nineteenth century witnessed a social behavior deeply connected with the values related to the written practices of the society of that time. By means of participation in writing practices, the historical subject of this research imposed himself as a citizen, constituting the identity of a writing subject.