Catholic Missions, Representations and Photography. Claretians and Barefoot Carmelites in Chocó and Urabá, Colombia (1908-1952)

Abstract

An important reactivation of missionary activity was produced in Latin America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Colombia was one of the countries where dominant groups recurred to the Catholic missions for the occupation and control of territories that had, until then, escaped from state control. The regions of Chocó and Urabá, in the Colombian northwest, were entrusted to two religious orders of Spanish origins, the Claretians and the Barefoot Carmelites, who were given the task of incorporating these territories and its inhabitants into the nation. The objective of this article is to analyze the representations that these religious figures constructed, using photographs taken of their missionary activity and of the territories and inhabitants of the missions, and published in different missionary propaganda media in the first half of the 20^th century.