“I Request my Freedom”: The Construction of the Free Identity in the Liberty Requests Sent to Manumission Boards of Medellín, Colombia (1830-1851) ; “Solicito mi libertad”: la construcción de una identidad libre en las solicitudes de libertad enviadas a la Junta de Manumisión de Medellín, Colombia (1830-1851) ; “Peço minha liberdade”: A construção de uma identidade livre nos pedidos de liberdade enviados à Junta de Alforria de Medellín, Colômbia (1830-1851)

the free womb law of July of 1821 raised for Gran Colombia the gradual emancipation of the enslaved and the creation of Manumission Boards in charge of carrying out this process in each province and canton of the territory. From the promulgation of the legislation until the abolition of slavery —1851—, the enslaved people from Medellín appeared before the board requesting to be elected to enjoy the precious gift of freedom and declaring that they possessed a series of qualities that made them free men and women. In this sense, this paper investigates the process of construction of this free identity and raises the following questions: How was the idea of freedom configured in the imaginary of the enslaved population? What was the point of requesting it before the Manumission Board? What characteristics made a person deserve or not freedom and how did these characteristics influence the representation that the enslaved made of themselves? To answer these questions, the requests for freedom of 335 enslaved were characterized and a sample of these was analyzed and interpreted in light of the context in which they were created, with which it is concluded that through the requests the enslaved made use of a language hegemonic and some strategies of enunciation that allowed them to build an identity of subjects deserving of the freedom given by the Manumission Board of Medellín. ; la Ley de vientre libre de julio de 1821 planteó para la Gran Colombia la manumisión paulatina de los esclavizados y la creación de las Juntas de Manumisión encargadas de llevar a cabo este proceso en cada provincia y cantón del territorio. Desde la promulgación de la norma hasta la abolición defi nitiva de la esclavitud —1851—, la población esclavizada de Medellín se presentó ante las Juntas solicitando ser elegida para gozar del precioso don de la libertad y declarando poseer una serie de cualidades que los hacían hombres y mujeres libres. En este sentido, este artículo indaga sobre el proceso de construcción de esta identidad libre y se ...