The constitution of the subject and the senses: the cannibal, the vicious man and the governor

Abstract

In this paper we offer reflexions on the constitution of subjects and senses in  Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca report, Comentários, written in 1541 and published in 1555. Based on the theoretical perspective of Discourse Analysis, founded in France by Michel Pêcheux and institutionalized in Brazil by Eni Orlandi, we intend to present how the mutual constitution of subject, sense and history can be understood. Thus, we treat the force relations that founded the pathways of sense production for a society such as ours, from the discursive sequences selected  in the report in question.