The governance of the male child subjects: model instructions for a Christian boy in a Portuguese civility manual of the late 18th century

Abstract: This article analyzes the discourses about the teaching of civility for the routine of male childhood present in the book Escola de politica ou tractado pratico da civilidade portugueza (1786) by the Portuguese priest João da Nossa Senhora da Porta Siqueira (17?? -1797). At the end of the 18th century the circulation of printed matter that enunciated the modelling of a specific image for the child subject gained centrality in the Portuguese printed culture. The theoretical problematic is based on the 'governmentality'category, with the purpose of establishing enunciative bases on the practices of subjectivation that constituted the male child population of an epoch. It is argued, therefore, that the discursive relation about the civilized infant followed a set of normative rules on Christian urbanity, the good appearance with the body and the politeness in social dealings.

Keywords:
childhood; civility; governmentality; Portugal; 18th century