ROUSSEAU’S ADVICE IN BAHIA: THE LETTERS OF LINO COUTINHO TO CORA

Abstract

The article analyzes how Rousseauian arguments concerning the education of men and women reached Bahia and contributed to the formulation of proposals for female education in Brazil, especially in the nineteenth century. It highlights the relevance of the Normal School of Bahia, founded in 1842, a pioneer in the training of female teachers in the country. The study investigates the circulation of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s work Emile and its influence on Bahian intellectuals, with emphasis on Letters on the Education of Cora (1849), by José Lino Coutinho, physician, politician, and educator. Influenced by the Enlightenment, Coutinho defended female instruction and participated in legislative projects aimed at women’s education, including proposals for the creation of schools and basic training in convents. His letters, addressed to his daughter’s governess during a trip to Europe, present an educational model inspired by Rousseau, grounded in sexual differentiation in education. Girls were assigned moral, religious, and domestic training, including needlework, drawing, music, and family virtues, oriented toward marriage and motherhood. The study shows that, although advanced for the Brazilian context, this proposal maintained patriarchal foundations, reinforcing female submission and the separation between public and private spheres. It concludes that Coutinho’s ideas were decisive for the debate and institutionalization of female education in Bahia, revealing tensions between educational modernization and the persistence of gender inequalities.