“About those terrible storms that are known in the haciendas of Peru”. Popular nationalisms and postcolonial pacts during the War of the Pacific, 1880-1890

Abstract

The following article analyzes and describes the alliances and pacts made by Peruvian and Chilean authorities with the different racial and ethnic groups that participated in the War of the Pacific. The perspective adopted herein is that the war created a space for negotiations and alliances in which indigenous groups, campesinos, Chinese and Afro-Peruvians became involved in the postcolonial pacts struck during the conflict. Accordingly, this article seeks to approach these alliances and negotiations as “postcolonial pacts” in order to interrogate the reconfiguration of colonial power relations between subaltern groups and the Peruvian and Chilean authorities. In this sense, the aim is to prompt new research questions related to the study of popular nationalisms and their impact on the construction of postcolonial Chile and Peru.