Juana Manso in Brazil: education, citizenship and cosmopolitanism

Abstract

This article examines the texts that Juana Manso produced in Rio de Janeiro, between 1845 and 1853, through the model of the intellectual exile, as well as through the concept of cosmopolitanism, linked to an idea of transnational citizenship. Manso’s trajectory and production are examined through two main articulations: her cosmopolitan horizon, that is, her search to adapt the ideals of an enlightened humanism to South America, and her preoccupation with women’s, children’s, and youth’s access to education and citizenship. Through these two main articulations, Manso’s Brazilian production – marked by the displacement characteristic of exile – reveals the author’s profound awareness of difference, in terms of language, nationality, gender and age.