Political caricature from a XXIth iberoamerican century. A cultural history of present time

Abstract

In an adverse context for freedom of thought in the so called public sphere, and from the perspective of the history of present time, this study explores the sense that is supposed to have in Latin America one of the “recent disasters” as was the attack against the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in France. Political caricature appears to be the expression of a traumatic experience and a shared political culture through both republican and democratic practices. However, on a continent democratized but still grappling with memory and the traumatic past of dictatorships, this imaginary is also strongly questioned by authoritarian ideological options. A figure hovers in both positions (democratic and authoritarian as well) and impacts on related imaginary: the victims figure, which within this relationship to the past or regime of historicity, not only replace “the era of witnesses” exemplified by the history of present time but also are integrated into an instrumentalized regime of emotions finally leading to a skewed view of history.

Keywords

• latin america
• cartoons
• memory
• emotions
• charlie hebdo