Cartas, escritura de cartas y expresiones de afecto y amor en la primera mitad del siglo XIX en Colombia.

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes expressions of affection and love written in letters in the first half of the 19th century in New Granada (Currently known as Colombia). First, this research explores the uses, functions, and meanings of writing letters by some women and men within the intimate and domestic sphere. Second, this research examines the expression of love and affection during a time in which the New Granada society experienced economic, political, and cultural changes between the wars of independence, the construction of the republic, and the building of the nation's ideals. In this context, this research describes and analyzes individual letter-writing experiences that account for the survival of affective relationships in colonial society and, simultaneously, for adopting new forms of expression and meanings of friendship, happiness, love, and eternity related to the Enlightenment and Romantic world. This study was carried out from the identification, compilation, transcription, and analysis of manuscript letters preserved in the Archivo Central del Cauca in Popayán, Colombia. Likewise, it analyzes letters published in specialized books.