Tão perto ou tan lejos? Caricaturas e contos na imprensa libertária e anticlerical de Porto Alegre e de Buenos Aires (1897-1916)

Abstract

This essay intends to analyze caricatures and tales of some libertarian and anti-clerical journals and supplements from Buenos Aires and Porto Alegre which circulated in these cities during the years 1897 to 1916, in an attempt to portray the many ways and strategies used by those small press vehicles in order to contest, denounce and, possible, implement actions to promote a new reality. Comparison will be used in order to oppose a social context to another, pointing out differences and similarities between the several publications addressed in this study, as well as what concerns the analysis of the caricatures and tales, carrying out similarities and differences between visual and verbal discourse of such elements. The caricatures studied here will be treated as representations, since it is believed that the dimension of the images is always a (re) creation, a (re) interpretation of a possible reality, which in this case, the images are seen as a class struggle tool, a combat weapon. The tales, on the other hand, are considered valuable pedagogical elements in the promotion of the readers awareness, since its briefness had the intention to convey the message without complexity. Moreover, it is assumed that both the caricatures and the tales have a broader range than the longer materials, i.e., they reach a greater number of readers, which justifies this study and alludes to the importance of these elements in the formation of its readers. The periodicals that are going to be used for the analysis are La Protesta, from Buenos Aires and A Luta and Lúcifer, both from Porto Alegre, and also the supplements La Obra and Suplemento de La Protesta from Buenos Aires.