• Iberoamérica
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.79-111
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• 2021

The purpose of this article is to present the potential of balangandãs as a documentary source for intersectional studies of gender and slavery, from the analysis of formal and symbolic aspects of the museum objects in the Museu Nacional Nacional (MHN) and Museu Carlos Costa Pinto (MCCP). Balangandãs are a type of creole jewelry, made in gold or silver and used in Brazil since the 18th century by black women - women who worked, especially in the commercialization of foodstuffs in large urban centers. They are described in printed sources and engravings, and preserved in some museum institutions. In the study, the meanings attributed to the object over the centuries are observed: jewelry, amulet, peculium, document, travel memory and heritage. As a result, the article seeks to highlight the objects as a historical and documentary source, verifying similarities between the pieces musealized at the MHN and at the MCCP, also emphasizing the documental power of the pieces produced today.