Exile and Nation-State Formation in Argentina and Chile, 1810–1862

This book traces the impact of exile in the formation of independent republics in Chile and the Río de la Plata in the decades after independence. Exile was central to state and nation formation, playing a role in the emergence of territorial borders and Romantic notions of national difference, while creating a transnational political culture that spanned the new independent nations. Analyzing the mobility of a large cohort of largely elite political émigrés from Chile and the Río de la Plata across much of South America before 1862, Edward Blumenthal reinterprets the political thought of well-known figures in a transnational context of exile. As Blumenthal shows, exile was part of a reflexive process in which elites imagined the nation from abroad while gaining experience building the same state and civil society institutions they considered integral to their republican nation-building projects.

Edward Blumenthal is Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, France.

“This is a magnificent, original book about the centrality of exile to the making of nation-states in South America. It tracks the experiences, networks and agonies of forced displacement and shows how preeminent figures in Argentine and Chilean public life drew upon exile to reimagine home.” (Jeremy Adelman, Henry Charles Lea Professor of History and Director of the Global History Lab, Princeton University, USA)

“An original and important study of the founding generations of South American politics and letters. A compelling book that shows how forced territorial displacement played a key role both in the construction of nation-states and the transnational dynamics of South America beyond national borders. Through his analysis of the social history, correspondence networks and intellectual trajectory of early nineteenth-century Argentine and Chilean political exiles, Edward Blumenthal makes a crucial empirical and theoretical contribution to comparative historical and cross-national studies. Highly recommended.” (Luis Roniger, Reynolds Professor of Latin American Studies, Wake Forest University, USA)

“This book narrates a solid and original transnational history of political mobilities in the nineteenth century, based on a connected history of exile experiences in the Southern Cone. Beginning with a rich corpus, Blumenthal analyzes little-studied aspects such as the constitution of a transnational political and professional market. It is indispensable reading for those who wish to better understand transnational dynamics of nation-state building in the nineteenth century.” (Pilar González,Professor of Latin American History, Université Paris 7 Diderot, France)