Materiality, social roles and the senses: Domestic landscape and social identity in the estâncias of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

This article provides a multisensory approach to the past and suggests new possibilities for assessing history through the senses. Using a phenomenological approach, the author analyses how the domestic space of Southern Brazilian estâncias, ranches dedicated to livestock farming, dynamically influenced the social identities of their inhabitants in the 19th century. She argues that what people saw, heard, smelt, touched and tasted in their daily lives, as well as the intensity and frequency of these sensory experiences, was dependent not simply on their own bodily capability as human beings, but also on their social status. The article also explores how the rancher’s house, the slave quarters and the barn, the three buildings that constituted the estância’s core complex, influenced the development of particular body routines and the creation and reproduction of particular somatic spaces. The methodology presented here invites a sensorial exploration of historical sites, contributing to a more humanised account of the relationship between individuals and things.