The Joys and Disappointments of a German Governess in Imperial Brazil

This complex account by a German governess examines households, families, and slavery in Brazil, and bears witness to how the world the slaveholders made would soon collapse.

Ina von Binzers letters, published in German in 1887 and translated into English for this book, offer a rare view of three very different elite family households during the twilight years of Brazils Second Empire. Her womans gaze contrasts markedly with other contributions to the contemporary travel literature on Brazil that were nearly entirely written by men. Although von Binzer covers a multitude of topicsranging from the management of households and plantations, the behavior of slaves and slaveowners, and the agricultural production of coffee and sugar to examinations of family relations, childrearing, culinary repertoires, and life on the streetthe common theme running through her letters is the dawning perception that the world the slaveholders made could not long endure. She delves into the inevitable arrival of abolition as a national issue and a nascent movementa destiny that her employers could no longer ignore. In recounting her conversations with them, she offers her own insights into their opinions and behaviors that make for a fascinating insiders view of a world about to disappear. Von Binzers letters are prefaced by a valuable historical introduction that surveys the contexts of slaverys slow demise after 1850 and offers new biographical research on von Binzer and the prominent families who employed her. A map of her travels together with dozens of photographs contemporary with her residence in Brazil provide visual documentation complementary to her letters.