MACAO'S WOMEN：PORTUGUESE WOMEN / MACANESE WOMEN澳門婦女：葡裔婦女與土生婦女
The article analyzes women in Macau, distinguishing the historical categories of "Portuguese women" and "Macanese women" in order to understand how the Luso-Asian colonial society in the territory was constituted from the sixteenth century onward. Starting from the assumption that the Portuguese fem...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
2017
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40054/2266 |
| Summary: | The article analyzes women in Macau, distinguishing the historical categories of "Portuguese women" and "Macanese women" in order to understand how the Luso-Asian colonial society in the territory was constituted from the sixteenth century onward. Starting from the assumption that the Portuguese female presence did not initially accompany the settlement of men and that the scarcity of European wives reoriented social and sexual practices, the author examines historiographical sources that describe the city's demographic formation, maritime circulation, and the mechanisms for acquiring women and children (abduction, purchase, negotiation, and "ransom"), frequently linked to commerce. The methodology combines critical reading of documentation and interpretive synthesis concerning royal policies, diplomatic tensions, and ecclesiastical interventions, situating Macau within the broader context of restrictions on the enslavement of Chinese women and the competition among local, ecclesiastical, and imperial powers. The study concludes that the construction of Macanese female identities and statuses resulted less from European family reproduction and more from sustained relations among Portuguese men, Eurasian women, and networks of servitude, producing miscegenation, moral controversies, and legal readjustments. Thus, "Macanese" emerges as a cultural and social category shaped by the port economy and by the dynamics of cohabitation and dependency. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |