Marguerite de Roberval et l’imaginaire colonial de l’affrontement entre les femmes et les bêtes sauvages

• Published in: Les cahiers de l'École du Louvre
• Main Author: Marty, Zoé
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: École du Louvre 2020
• Subjects: iconographie; chasse; ours polaire; de Roberval (Marguerite); Maxwell (Martha); de Navarre (Marguerite); taxidermie; pionnière; imaginaire de la frontière; colonial; Iconography; hunting; polar bear; Marguerite de Roberval; Martha Maxwell; Marguerite de Navarre; taxidermy; pioneer; imaginative universe of the wilderness; hist; litt; Marguerite
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4000/cel.7712; http://journals.openedition.org/cel/7712

The story of Marguerite de Roberval, as it was told in the 16th century, includes a bear-hunting episode that differs from the traditions in which women and wild beasts are placed in opposition. In spite of this particular anomaly, this female figure was part of the imaginative universe of the pioneers when it was imported into the Atlantic context of the 19th century. The imperatives of survival and domination that characterised these territories were favourable to the exaltation of female figures whose violence was rendered apparent in their confrontation with wild animals and the manufacture of their bodies. This was the case of Martha Maxwell, a hunter and taxidermist for whom the rifle was a creative tool. This article attempts to analyse the significance of Roberval in relation to the practices of certain women during the second half of the 19th century in the territories of the Atlantic. L’histoire de Marguerite de Roberval, telle que relatée au XVIe siècle, inclut un épisode de chasse aux ours qui apparaît comme une exception au sein des traditions opposant les femmes aux bêtes sauvages. Malgré cette apparente singularité, cette figure s’est inscrit dans l’imaginaire des pionnières lorsqu’elle fut importée dans le contexte atlantique du XIXe siècle. Les impératifs de survie et de domination qui caractérisent alors ces territoires sont propices à l’exaltation de figures féminines dont la violence se manifeste à travers la confrontation aux bêtes sauvages puis la manufacture de leurs corps. C’est le cas de Martha Maxwell, chasseresse et taxidermiste pour qui le fusil constitue un outil de création. Cet article entend analyser la signification de la figure de Roberval au regard des pratiques de certaines femmes la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle dans les territoires atlantiques.