"¡Viva el Salvagismo!:" The Representation of Amerindians in Argentine Satirical Newspapers during the Years of National Organization (1852-1880)

This article examines how Argentine satirical newspapers between 1852 and 1880 represented Amerindians during the crucial years of national organization. Through analysis of editorial cartoons, illustrations, and satirical narratives from newspapers like El Mosquito, La Cencerrada, and Antón Perulero, the author demonstrates how indigenous peoples were strategically deployed as rhetorical and visual tools to critique contemporary society, mock political opposition, and comment on government frontier policies.The study reveals three primary uses of Amerindian imagery: social criticism (satirizing European customs and "civilized" hypocrisy), political commentary (depicting opponents as savages, particularly during conflicts between Alsina and Mitre factions), and policy debate (both supporting and criticizing government treatment of native populations). The article traces how clothing functioned as a marker of civilization in these representations, with dressed Indians signaling pacification and nudity indicating savagery. Through close readings of apocryphal letters supposedly written by Chief Calfucurá and various political cartoons featuring indigenous figures, the author shows how satirical newspapers contributed to constructing the Amerindian as the quintessential Other—barbaric, untrustworthy, and ultimately disposable—thereby legitimizing policies of extermination and displacement. The analysis concludes by situating these popular texts in dialogue with canonical works by José Hernández and Lucio V. Mansilla, demonstrating how satirical newspapers both reflected and shaped the cultural discourse that rationalized the Conquest of the Desert and denied indigenous peoples a place in the emerging Argentine nation.