The invisible presence

women role in the ultramontane civilazing project

Abstract

This article analyzes the role attributed to women in the context of the ultramontane civilizing project in Brazil, during the second half of the 19th century. In order to do so, it takes as its source the newspaper A Cruz, published in Rio de Janeiro between 1861 and 1864, analyzing how the female condition was conceived and shaped in its pages, based on the broader meanings associated with the conceptual pair “civilization-Christianity”. Specifically, it investigates the associations of women with the domestic place represented by family, with the moral and religious education of their children, as well as with the condition of women readers. In order to do so, it incorporates the methodological instruments of Discourse Analysis, allied to the History of Concepts, in order to understand how the female condition was interpreted from the concept of ultramontane civilization and how, from its circumstantial insertion in Brazilian society at that time, it helped to mold this same concept. Finally, the analyses incorporates the historiographical use of the gender category, to achieve the proposed objectives.