Abstract

PEREZ FLORES, José Luis. The Struggle against Savagery in North Novohispanic Border Art: Imagery and Social Representations. Front. hist. [online]. 2016, vol.21, n.2, pp.12-46. ISSN 2027-4688.  https://doi.org/10.22380/2027468894.

In the following paper I will analyze some of the images not studied enough from the conventual iconographic program of Actopan and Ixmiquilpan in the context of the border, evangelization and war. I will discuss the representation of the discourse of the struggle of civilization against savagery in the context of the novohispanic expansion in chichamecas' land; for this I will also use images of XVI century cartography, as well as convents from the center of Mexico, with the objective of explaining the conformation of a self-imagery of the northern border, where the dispute for the domain of the lands inhabited by chichamecas provided the construction of a set of images that show conflict through the metaphor of the struggle of Christ and the Christian community against evil, idolatry and savagery. I will show how in these images the justifying eagerness of the novohispanic expansion as an civilizing enterprise is present within detriment of the chichamecas who were vilified when represented as “barbaric” and/or “savage”

Keywords : border; chichimecas; Christians Indians; civilization; Ixmiquilpan; savagery.

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