Picturing colonial ideology in Le Petit Journal
Abstract
This article examines the ideological power of visual culture in shaping colonial narratives through an analysis of photographs and illustrations published in the French newspaper Le Petit Journal during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using qualitative visual and semiotic analysis of selected illustrations published between 1907 and 1911 and drawing on the works of Roland Barthes and Martine Joly, the study explores how images functioned not merely as representations but as instruments of colonial propaganda. The analysis demonstrates that Le Petit Journal systematically depicted Morocco and its people through Orientalist stereotypes, constructing the Moroccan “other” as violent, backward, or exotic while presenting France as a civilizing and superior force. Recurring visual dichotomies like light versus dark, order versus chaos, and civilization versus savagery contributed to normalizing colonial domination within French public opinion. The article argues that such representations shaped collective perceptions of Morocco and continue to influence contemporary visual narratives of the Maghreb. Specifically, the study highlights how the newspaper masked actual local resistance by strategically visualizing Moroccan subjects either as chaotic mobs requiring pacification or as loyal auxiliaries grateful for French intervention. Understanding these mechanisms highlights the importance of critically reassessing the historical role of mass media in imperial discourse.
Keywords
visual culture, semiotics, orientalism, colonial discourse, Morocco.
Ethical Statement
This study is a qualitative visual discourse and semiotic analysis based on historical archival media available in the public domain. Because the research relies entirely on publicly accessible historical newspaper archives from the early twentieth century and does not involve human participants, interviews, surveys, or living subjects, formal institutional ethics committee approval was not required.
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