Sorcerers and folkhealers: africans and the Inquisition in Portugal (1680-1800)

Resumo

What emerges is a picture of Inquisition jurisprudence being used to reinforce both the institution of slavery and the idea of the social superiority of whites overfree blacks. Further, these cases revea lthe vulnerability of free blacks who, without the protection of their white masters, fell outside the established social parameters the institution of slavery had created for persons of African ancestry. Deprived of a place orallies in white society, free blacks typically received far more severe penalties than did their enslaved counterparts.