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L’importance de la sphère publique habermassienne pour les jeunes romantiques du Río de la Plata et des pays voisins a reçu une attention particulière depuis quelques décennies. Cette nouvelle légitimation de la politique coïncidait avec des vagues importantes d’exil, notamment celle de la « jeune Argentine » qui s’opposa à la dictature du gouverneur de Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas, et qui se dispersa sur les côtes du Pacifique, surtout dans les années 1840. L’objet de cette contribution est d’examiner comment le théâtre, déjà vu comme une pratique civilisatrice, se convertit en un lieu de sociabilité et d’expression politique, étroitement connecté au journalisme politique et au combat des émigrés. Des comédiens porteños en exil formèrent des compagnies qui voyagèrent le long des côtes du Pacifique, et un public d’émigrés les accueillit chaleureusement dans les théâtres et dans la presse, comme un symbole et une expression de leur situation politique. La importancia de la esfera pública habermasiana para los jóvenes románticos de Chile y el Río de la Plata ha recibido una atención creciente desde hace varias décadas. Esta nueva legitimación de la política coincidía con olas importantes de exilio, notablemente la de la «joven Argentina» que se opuso al dictador de Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas, y se dispersó en las costas del Pacífico en las décadas de 1830 y 1840. El objetivo de este artículo es examinar cómo el teatro, visto como una práctica civilizadora, se convirtió en un lugar de sociabilidad y expresión política, íntimamente conectada al periodismo político y el combate de los emigrados. Actores porteños en exilio formaron compañías que viajaron por el Pacífico y un público de emigrados los acogió calurosamente en los teatros y en la prensa como un símbolo y una expresión de su situación política.

Le droit d’asile se comprend a la fois du point de vue de l’individu qui cherche refuge et du point de vue de l’Etat qui examine sa demande. Le respect de ce droit renvoie ainsi a des enjeux politiques mettant en jeu la souverainete nationale d’un Etat. L’histoire de la codification juridique de l’asile, elaboree entre le milieu du XIXe siecle et le debut du XXe siecle, revele une participation significative des juristes latino-americains. A une epoque ou l’Europe exclut tout asile diplomatique, les pays d’Amerique latine sont, en effet, les premiers a reconnaitre les motifs politiques de l’asile.

The conclusion outlines some trajectories of return before summarizing the main arguments. Exile was a pillar of political order in South America, playing a role in border formation, as well as in the alternation in power, at the heart of democratic legitimacy. Opposition took root, voiced discontent and attempted to produce change from abroad. Exile and return were part of broader transnational flows that emerged from colonial commercial and migratory routes with the creation of international borders. An important consequence was to create a political culture of exile, both in the sense of political practice—on a continuum running from state banishment to emigre flight—as well as that of cultural representations of the Romantic emigre. The practice of exile connected politics in emerging nation-states, mediating in both civil wars and international relations, and was at the heart of the formation of independent republics in South America.

The practice and politics of exile are the subjects of this chapter. From sites of exile across South America, emigres carried out exile politics aimed at political change and return. Starting with an overview of the mid-century sites and waves of exile, this chapter argues that political displacement was a practice used by states to regulate political opposition, as well as a strategy used by the emigres themselves. Exile was a practice spread across generations, creating family histories and Romantic representations of exile as a republican political practice. This chapter compares the practice of exile in Chile and the Rio de la Plata, and across the different sites of exile, while also highlighting a common political culture of exile. These practices connected local conflicts and played a mediating role in international relations.

Taking exile labor markets as a category of analysis, this chapter examines how emigres survived in exile, often in a context of relative poverty. They were often able to find work fairly easily, particularly in journalism, although this varied by country and decade, which shows how the transnational public sphere was anchored in the concrete reality of local labor markets. In the case of emigres from the Rio de la Plata, they formed labor niches in professions associated with nascent republican institution-building and the development of “national” cultural life, in particular in Chile and Bolivia, forming a transnational class of institution-builders across several South American countries. The dynamics of inclusion/exclusion of emigres in local labor markets underscore the tensions between survival and integration in the exile experience, while also showing the importance of path dependency in explaining differences between emigres from different countries.

This chapter looks at political displacement during the independence period (1810–1830), placing it firmly in the context of colonial patterns of mobility as well as Spanish penal practices. Exile networks rapidly formed as a consequence of the wars of independence and the civil wars that followed, following the trade routes shaped by merchants, migrants and indigenous peoples. In this early exile period, borders and political identities were uncertain, and political displacement—and the repression of exile activities—played a key role in their emergence. From displacement across administrative jurisdictions, banishment turned into to what it recognizably is today, a tool for removing individuals perceived as dangerous from a state-controlled territory. Exile as flight also emerged, as did sites of exile where asylum was offered regularly. This set the stage for the evolution of the practice of exile over the following decades.

Through their participation in cultural debates and the formation of public and civil society institutions, Argentine emigres imagined Chile as a model of nation-building that could be adapted to their home country after 1852 and the fall of Rosas. The foundational texts of Argentine nationality, such as Sarmiento’s Facundo and Alberdi’s Bases, imagined Argentina in a comparative perspective. Involvement in Chilean politics is key to understanding the evolution of Argentine political thought, as the emigres from the Argentine Confederation both criticized their host country and participated in factional politics. The ideas expressed in these texts were also influential in the development of an idea of Chilean exceptionalism in South America, the idea that the country was unique in enjoying stable institutions, that contrasted with the “anarchy” of the Argentine civil wars.

This chapter analyzes Chilean exile writing, emanating from Lima, Ecuador, Mendoza, Buenos Aires, Montevideo—as well as London, Paris and Madrid—to better understand the political and social integration of emigres into host societies and the impact it had on their thinking about a post-Montt Chile, and republican national projects more generally. Chilean emigres understood their own experience in the light of a global republican struggle, shaped by Europe’s 1848 revolutions and their neighbors’ combat against Rosas. Romantic notions of early socialist exile mixed with discourses of tyranny to produce a shared cosmopolitan narrative of exile, solidarity and possible return. The exile experience was also the occasion to develop narratives of cultural differences of nationality. This is the context for the birth of both Chilean and Argentine historiography, as historians such as Diego Barros Arana and Benjamin Vicuna Mackenna shared source material acquired in exile.

This chapter argues that exile connected incipient public spheres across Spanish America in a transnational public sphere. In different sites of exile, emigres—as well as literate members of host societies—were often reading the same texts and engaging in similar debates, creating a shared experience of reading and debate. The emergence of this transnational public sphere occurred in a period when nations were more of a project than a concrete social reality. Rather than undermining the nation-state, these networks were constitutive of the formation of state and nation in Chile, Rio de la Plata, and across South America. The emergence of this transnational public sphere is essential to understanding the development of the political projects mobilized by emigres, analyzed in subsequent chapters.

Starting from the outbreak of the independence wars, and continuing though the first half century after independence, civil strife led to large waves of exile, both popular and elite, that shaped subsequent politics—and political culture—for generations. This book argues that exile is an essential part of the foundation of political order in South America and played a major role in shaping political thought in the nineteenth century. The introduction outlines the political context of exile in Chile and the Rio de la Plata from independence until 1862, before situating the research on exile in a historiographical context of global and transnational history. Finally, it outlines the legal and conceptual categories used to talk about exile in the nineteenth century.

International audience; This article analyzes through the prism of exile and return the journey of General Juan Lavalle's remains from the battlefield to Bolivia, Chile, and then Buenos Aires. After the death of Lavalle at the hands of Federalist militias in Jujuy province in 1841, his followers carried his bones and heart with them to Bolivia. His remains became a focal point of exile politics in Bolivia and Chile, where republican funerals were held in Lavalle's honor. The return of Lavalle's remains, sponsored by the Buenos Aires government and organized by émigrés in Chile, became part of the conflict between the province and the Argentine Confederation in the 1850s. Exile and return, embodied by the remains, were important yet conflictual experiences that legitimized the post-Rosas order. The role played by émigrés in the repatriation of Lavalle and the debates over his memory highlight the politics of transnational exile at the heart of the new republic's organization. Much of the research for this article was made possible by a grant from the " Itinerarios singulares e identidades plurales " project, organized by CONICET (Argentina) and the Université Diderot Paris-Sorbonne-Cité (France). I am also grateful to the editors and reviewers of HAHR for their valuable comments.

International audience; [début du texte] L’indépendance des États d’Amérique du Sud, concomitant de la désintégration de l’Empire espagnol dans le cadre des guerres napoléoniennes, fut marquée par l’explosion, en leur sein, de forces centrifuges1. Suivant l’exemple ibérique, les villes capitales des anciens vice-royaumes –puis les villes provinciales –réclamèrent en effet leur souveraineté particulière, le pouvoir légitime symbolisé par le Roi d’Espagne étant vacant. Ce mouvement connu sous l’appellation de juntista–des juntes gouvernantes déclarées dans les villes –commença à Buenos Aires dès 1810et, en 1811,au Chili. Dans ce territoire néanmoins, l’expérience ne dura que trois ans. La chute de la junte provoquée par les victoires des armées du vice-roi en 1814 sur les patriotes entraîna alors le départ de milliers de Chiliens qui traversèrent la frontière pour gagner Mendoza. Parmi eux se trouvaient l’ex-président de la junte José Miguel Carrera et sa famille.