Children of nobody:the practice of child abandonment in Luso-Brazilian world in comparative perspective

Abstract

The phenomenon of child abandonment was frequent in the history of Europe of the Old Regime, as in the New World societies. Due to the intensity of the phenomenon were created the Casas da Roda, a institution to take care of the foundlings (Roda is a reference to the mechanism that guaranteed the anonymity of the people who had practiced the act). The case of child abandonment in luso-brazilian world has been studied in recent decades an researchers use sources produced by those institutions to analyze the phenomenon. On the other hand, less attention is given to the practice of abandonment in the doorways of the households. So the analysis will focus on areas where there was no Casas da Roda, by comparing the northwestern region of Portugal and southern Brazilian parishes, between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The main sources are parish registers of baptism. For the analysis of child abandonment we used quantitative and qualitative methodologies, like nominal record linkage. The central issue is discuss the child abandonment as a result of a context of family crisis (for instance, unwanted pregnancy) and / or social vulnerability.