Chapter 10: Protection Offered to Poor Children by The Holy House of Mercy¹ in Bahia During The 19th Century

When speaking of protection of childhood, it is necessary to point out its historical and cultural nature. According to Miranda (1984), a society’s idea of childhood and protection of childhood needs to be understood in its context, taking into consideration the analysis of power relations and the hegemonic ideologies of each time. We adopt as a reference frame the historical-cultural approach and claim that subjectivity is constructed—and constructs itself—through the subject’s activity in the context of his social relations. The subject makes sense of the social through symbolic mediation, restructuring it, and delivering the signs—meditational means—back to society. It is language appropriation that prompts the unfolding of psychic functioning; and the people in this environment, through their intervention, are the ones who make this appropriation possible (Bronckart, 1999). Therefore, we understand that the development of essentially human characteristics is inextricably related to social interaction and to the environment where the person is inscribed. Human subjectivity is constituted by means of the individual’s activity—agent and constructor of himself—immersed in a social relations cultural context built by individuals and dependents of historical-cultural practices developed on this society (Leontiev, 1978).