Concubinage in Colonial Brazil: the Inequalities of Race, Class, and Gender

Abstract

Colonial society's requirement that marriage must be endogamous meant that the only possible long-term sexual relationship between a man of superior status in regard to class and/or race and a woman of inferior status was concubinage. Focusing on racial differences, this study documents such inequality within concubi nage and also demonstrates that despite the strong Christian endorsement of marriage, the church also subscribed to the idea that marriage had to be endogamous. Thus, when confronted by single sexual partners who were highly unequal, the church did not oblige them to marry but instead attempted to separate them.

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