La paille et la poutre : images de la violence dans les Amériques

• Main Author: Pascal Mongne
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Université Paris 3 2001-12-01
• Series: Cahiers des Amériques Latines
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/cal/6638

Since its appearance in the Occident, the American continent did not cease being represented in images, and in multiple manners. These images, whether authentic or invented, are related to all that it could be immediately visible: landscapes, plants and animals of course, but more especially its populations and the cultures which they had created: works of art, habits, religious ceremonies, everyday life scenes, etc. Within this incredible iconographic richness, violence has certainly played a paramount role. The commonplace of the history of the world, its image could only develop and grow in the collective phantasms of old Europe, turned towards Mundus Novus. Real or imagined, the image of American violence has taken since five centuries, multiple aspects, reflections of epochs and modes, and especially of mentalities. This text, starting from a choice of some iconographic examples, is in fact a quick skipping throw