| Summary: | The dweller of the peruvian selva, named Anti or ch’unchu in colonial chronicles, is the protagonist of several figurative scenes painted on the wooden vases called queros. He appears as a shadow also behind the Devil character, a recurring figure of quechua theatre in the Cuzco region. Comparing examples from these two types of sources (texts and images), chronological contemporaries (XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries) and belonging to the same geographical and cultural area (the Andean highlands), this article propose a new interpretation of the traditional image of the Savage. The perspective moves from the West to the Andes to analyze the way that colonial society looks at this representation of the Other, seen as a counter-mirror through which it seeks to define its own identity. Our vision of the colonial universe will thus be enriched with a new light emphasizing, once again, its complexity.
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