In his image and likeness: the Puerto Rican jíbaro as political icon

This essay explores the rhetorical power of the emblem of Luis Mu oz Marín s Partido Popular Democratico (PPD) during the senatorial campaign of 1940. The PPD s emblem functioned to invoke the archetypal myth of the jíbaro, along with associated cultural values and corresponding ideological commitments, thus gathering the rhetorical forces the PPD needed to shape and mobilize a constituency. In so doing, the emblem rendered visible a jíbaro subject, transforming the same into a political icon and enhancing the constitutive force of the campaign discourse.