Les rhétoriques interculturelles au Mexique : une expression contemporaine des figures archétypales de l’indigène Miriam Hernandez Reyna Centre de recherches historiques, EHESS, Paris, Institut d’histoire du temps présent, CNRS, France myryam.hr@gmail.com Abstract. Since the beginning of the XXI st century, the policies of cultural diversity in Mexico have been presented and promoted by the Mexican authorities as part of an original plan aiming at redefining indigenous identities and ensuring their place in a multicultural nation. By building on the national heritage, introducing administrative and legal changes and implementing inter- cultural educational programs, a 'renovated' Aboriginal seems to have been created. The aim of this article is to show that far from being a break from the past, the State's rhetoric of cultural diversity reinforces a 'national regime of historicity' marked by the obsessive return to the pre-Columbian origins of the nation, represented by the archetypal figure of the Indian. Moreover, we will examine some elements of Mexico's recent history which suggest that the native ancestry has come back on the national scene because of the changes in the historical experience of the country. We will see that these changes are at the crossroads between the emergence of a global multicultural discourse and the long-term building process of Mexican history. We finally show how this context has given rise to a new archetypal figure of the Indian linked to inter-cultural rhetoric: that of the 'official' Indian who remains devoid of historicity but paradoxically at the heart of the recreated national future. Keywords: intercultural rhetoric, multiculturalism, archetypical Indian, regimes of historicity, nation, Mexico. Depuis le début du XXI e siècle, le gouvernement mexicain s’est attaché à créer plusieurs politiques et institutions en matière de diversité culturelle, dont la principale tâche est de préserver, de renforcer et de valoriser les traditions des peuples dits “autochtones”. Ceci est en lien avec le discours de la pluralité culturelle que le gouvernement avait commencé à adopter dès la fin des années 1980 lors de la ratification de la Convention 169 de l’OIT sur les droits des peuples indigènes et tribaux.