The War of the Pacific (1879–1883) looms large in the history of Peru and Chile. Upending the prevailing historiographical focus on the history of conflict, Beyond Patriotic Phobias explores points of connection shared between Peruvians and Chileans despite war. Through careful archival work, historian Joshua Savala highlights the overlooked cooperative relationships of workers across borders, including maritime port workers, doctors, and the police. These groups, in both countries, were intimately tied together through different forms of labor: they worked the ships and ports, studied and treated disease transmission in the face of a cholera outbreak, and conducted surveillance over port and maritime activities because of perceived threats like transnational crime and labor organizing. By following the movement of people, diseases, and ideas, Savala reconstructs the circulation that created a South American Pacific world. The resulting story is one in which communities, classes, and states formed transnationally through varied, if uneven, forms of cooperation.
Joshua Savala is Assistant Professor of Latin American History at Rollins College.
"Beyond Patriotic Phobias turns on its head how scholars, journalists, and politicians represent relations between Peru and Chile. Joshua Savala contests this dominant view that highlights tensions and conflicts, instead showing how workers and common people forged diverse forms of solidarity. This is stirring and innovative social and transnational history and a major contribution to the study of class, nationalism, and the Pacific world."–– Charles Walker, Professor of History, University of California, Davis
"Based on impressive archival research, this book takes a bold and refreshing approach to the history of nineteenth-century Chile and Peru by exploring dynamics of connection, cooperation, and solidarity—rather than conflict—in the maritime worlds that linked ports and workers."—Heidi Tinsman, Professor of History, University of California, Irvine
"In this engaging labor history of the South American Pacific Ocean, Savala challenges traditional accounts that have emphasized conflict and nationalism during the War of the Pacific. Instead, he uncovers a fascinating history of the many encounters, exchanges, and solidarities that defined the lives of Chileans and Peruvians working and moving across transnational waters and ports."—Ángela Vergara, author of Fighting Unemployment in Twentieth-Century Chile
248 pp.6 x 9Illus: 12 b/w figures, 5 tables
9780520385887$95.00|£80.00Hardcover
Jun 2022