Peru, Chile and the Pacific: Anarchism and Collaborative Histories

The Moynihan Institute’s Program on Latin America and the Caribbean is proud to host Joshua Savala of Rollins College.

The War of the Pacific (1879–1883) looms large in the history of Peru and Chile and has been the structuring element in historical scholarship. In this talk, Savala will explore points of collaboration and parallel histories shared between Peruvians and Chileans. In particular, he will examine the overlooked cooperative relationships forged by maritime and port workers through a politics of anarchism. By following the movement of people 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
Assistant Professor, Department of History, Rollins College

Joshua Savala is an assistant professor of history at Rollins College, where he also is the director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Cornell University. His book, "Beyond Patriotic Phobias: Connections, Cooperation, and Solidarity in the Peruvian-Chilean Pacific" (University of California Press, 2022) has received honorable mentions for best book on Peru and the Southern Cone (Social Sciences) sections through the Latin American Studies Association.