Own domains. Family dispute over the enslavement of Marcellina

Abstract

In 1802, Úrsula Villalón, a resident of the city of Santiago, brought a civil suit against her father Fermín Villalón, with the purpose of recovering the dominion and ownership of Marcelina, an enslaved woman donated to her by her maternal grandparents. The family conflict exposes some central elements that were part of urban and domestic slavery and gives clues about the local slave market in colonial Santiago de Chile. Mainly, it allows us to think about the value that women's slavery meant at the end of the 18th century and the first years of the 19th century. Marcelina, an enslaved woman, was considered a highly valued “piece” and “property” as a product, producer, and reproducer of slavery because she represented a set of economic and social possibilities and interests, which I propose to underline throughout this article.