A construção do feminino no poder: as representações em torno da imagem da Princesa Isabel, 1860–1887

Abstract

This dissertation is presented with the aim of analyzing and highlighting the representations woven and constructed regarding Princess Isabel, from a gender perspective as a political category of historical analysis. It is of interest to establish a parallel with the construction of femininity in power, through the figure of Princess Isabel, as successor to the imperial throne and Princess Regent, and the social roles of daughter, wife, and mother, as postulated for white and elite women in the 19th century. Emphasis is placed on the confluence of two basic, structuring, and formative precepts of imperial society: the public and the private spheres. In this direction, the objective is to explain that the figure of Princess Isabel constitutes an intersection between gender, as Isabel was a white woman and a member of the monarchy, and power, as the future successor to the throne and Princess Regent. Thus, it is possible to initially investigate the representations constructed between different political and social spheres, predominantly composed of a male, literate layer of intellectuals who moved through the political and public realms of the 19th century. These representations portrayed a woman as the legitimate heir to the Imperial Crown, occupying the highest position of power in the 19th century. Meanwhile, the aim is to historicize the construction of femininity in power through public photographs of Princess Isabel, and how these images functioned as a guiding thread for the analysis of the future Empress, serving to present and perpetuate the viability of femininity in power in Brazil in the second half of the 19th century.