Dr. Edilson Nunes dos Santos Junior
Postdoctoral Guest Researcher
Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
January 2025–February 2025
Interdisciplinary Post-graduate Program in Society and Borders (PPGSOF)
Universidade Federal de Roraima (UFRR), Boa Vista, Brazil
diljunior5@gmail.com
Title of current research project: "Non-White Women in Amazonian Riverine Labor: Bonded Labor, Slavery, and Citizenship from a Global and Intersectional Perspective (c. 1850–c. 1930)"
Academic Profile
My research aims to bring to the forefront of academic discussions on the worlds of riverine labor the presence of non-white women – Indigenous and mixed-race (cabocla) women – working as rowers and boatwomen in the Amazon region, with a focus on the far north. Their involvement in this type of work challenges traditional gender norms central to river and maritime labor, often considered an exclusively male domain, strongly associated with violence, virility, and physical strength. It also raises questions about the racialization processes these women experienced and the intertwining of bonded labor and slavery in the Amazon. However, their role has often been marginalized and treated as secondary in many studies on riverine labor dynamics in the province/state of Amazonas. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to analyze the presence of these women in riverine labor in the Rio Branco region (present-day Boa Vista, in the state of Roraima) and in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, between 1850 and 1920. The study focuses on the conflicts and negotiations their presence and agency provoked in municipal legislation and examines the impacts of these dynamics on their exercise of political and social rights, particularly through the lens of racialization processes.
2023
Substitute associate professor, Rio de Janeiro State University
2021–2022
Substitute associate professor, Ouro Preto Federal University
since 2016
Associate researcher at Centro de Estudos do Oitocentos – CEO
since 2016
Associate researcher at Núcleo de Estudos de Migrações, Identidades e Cidadania – NEMIC
2024–2025
Postdoctoral Fellow (CAPES) at Interdisciplinary Post-graduate Program in Society and Borders (PPGSOF), Roraima Federal University. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mariana Cunha Pereira
2023–2024
Postdoctoral Fellow (CNPq) at Post-graduate Program in History (PPGH), Fluminense Federal University (UFF). Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Paulo Cruz Terra
2016–2020
PhD in History at Post-graduate Program in History (PPGH), Fluminense Federal University (UFF). Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gladys Sabina Ribeiro
2014–2016
MA in History at Post-graduate Program in History (PPGH), Fluminense Federal University (UFF). Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gladys Sabina Ribeiro
2010–2011
Specialization in History of Rio de Janeiro in History at Post-graduate Program in History (PPGH), Fluminense Federal University (UFF). Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Paulo Cruz Terra
2005–2009
B.A. in History, Estácio de Sá University
- 2022. "Velas enfunadas cortam a baía: propriedade, liberdade e relações de trabalho entre remadores e barqueiros no Rio de Janeiro (c.1830–c.1850)." [Pompous sails cross the bay: property, freedom and labor relations between rowers and boaters in Rio de Janeiro (c.1830–c.1850)]. In HISTÓRIA, HISTÓRIAS 9: 194–235.
- 2021. "Infelizes artistas de corações aflitos: coerção ao trabalho de ditos livres na paralisação dos carpinteiros e calafates no Rio de Janeiro, em 1857." In Múltiplos olhares sobre o oitocentos. [Unfortunate Artists of Troubled Hearts: Coercion of the So-Called Free Workers during the Strike of Carpenters and Caulkers in Rio de Janeiro, 1857. In Multiple Perspectives on the Nineteenth Century]. São Paulo: Ed. Alameda.
- 2018. "Direitos e cidadania no Rio de Janeiro: poder e disputas por espaços de trabalho na Praia da Saúde em 1841." [Rights and Citizenship in Rio de Janeiro: Power and Disputes over Workspaces at Praia da Saúde in 1841]. In Revista Mundos do Trabalho 9: 63–79.