«Che si disponga ciò che spetta». Il Patronato a Cuba fra genere e giustizia (1880-86)

The patronato, an apprenticeship system, was implemented in Cuba in 1880 to orchestrate the transition from slavery to other coexisting forms of dependence and coercion. This article takes a gender perspective to offer a micro-historical study of how patrocinadas (former slaves), turning to the Juntas, carved out spaces in which to protest their own living conditions and those of their loved ones. Furthermore, by contextualising the patronato alongside the measures of forced apprenticeship that empires with colonial possessions in the Caribbean promoted as they abolished slavery, the discussion reveals both the institution’s paternalistic character and the paths of autonomy the patrocinadas took.