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Presentation.

2025-08-07T08:59:02-05:00

Commemorations are opportunities for reflection. And at a time when words are devalued in the political sphere—when what is said often bears little relation to what is done (if not its exact opposite), and laws are manipulated at the whim of individual wills, thereby corrupting their very purpose—historical reflection becomes all the more urgent. The study of the past always requires a horizon, something essential to transcend the short-term thinking and lack of future outlook that characterize politics today, not only in Peru. History may no longer be fashionable; it may no longer define national identity as it did a few decades ago, but it remains relevant at the regional level and ought to matter to everyone. As a discipline committed to uncovering the truth about the past, history should play a vital role in the public sphere—especially in times like ours, when truth is being systematically eroded in the service of authoritarianism.

This special issue of Argumentos responds to the open call “Independence from Other Centers,” launched by the journal last year to mark the bicentennial of the Battle of Ayacucho. It features seven scholarly articles by authors from different generations, academic contexts, and stages of their careers, all of whom take up the invitation to reflect “from other centers.” These centers are not only geographic—outside Lima, in line with a growing historiographical interest in the regions—but also thematic, engaging topics not usually associated with the study of independence. These include, for instance, oratory practices in educational institutions, as well as archival centers dispersed across various geographies—from Parinacochas in southern Ayacucho, to the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, to a private archive in Puno.

The voice of the people: declarations and pronouncements of independence in Southern peruvian and Charcas in 1825

2025-07-30T11:25:01-05:00

The article works with the various declarations or pronouncements of independence that occurred in the space in southern Peru and Upper Peru/Charcas between December 1824 and February 1825, after the triumph of the Ejército Libertador in the battle of Ayacucho and the subsequent signing of the Capitulation. Against the backdrop of the Domestic War between the absolutist and constitutional factions in Charcas, which explains the complex military and ideological situation at the end of 1824, I analyze the participation of various actors, the type of leadership, the participation of subordinate groups and the discourse they present, at a time when the colonial system was collapsing but a republic had not yet been established.

Between evocation, projects and discontent:

2025-07-30T11:19:00-05:00

In 1974, the military government of Juan Velasco Alvarado organized the commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the battle of Ayacucho, a celebration that has received little attention from historiography. This article analyzes the characteristics of this commemoration and the reactions it generated in the Ayacucho society. It works three levels of analysis that account for the official commemorative project, the responses of the local population and the position of an organization reluctant to the Sesquicentennial. This paper argues that the military regime promoted a commemoration from above focused on public works, which failed to connect with the expectations of a regional society with which it maintained a conflictive relationship. Moreover, the commemoration aroused radical opposition from Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path organization), which condemned the military regime and proclaimed the destruction of the historical process of which the battle of Ayacucho was a part.

Arequipa and Romantic Patriotism (1813-1815)

2025-07-30T11:27:17-05:00

This article studies the political situation of Arequipa in 1814 and the conditions for the emergence of an attempted uprising spearheaded by a group of activists defined by what I am calling a romantic patriotism. The military expansion of the Cuzco revolution of 1814 converged with this political movement. In the province, as well as in the city, a plebeian insurgency also took shape, which was culturally akin to that of romantic patriotism. Arequipa’s 1813 and 1814 attempts at insurgency were also intertwined with those stemming from Tacna and Cuzco, and not only because of the military presence of the Cuzco rebels in that city.

Rebels and Counterrevolutionaries

2025-08-01T12:05:36-05:00

This article explores the independence process in the province of Parinacochas, a territory little explored by the regional historiography of Ayacucho, of which this province is part. It questions the tendency to categorize the actions of its social actors as unanimously patriotic and shows instead that some of its indigenous sectors even generated a "counterrevolution" of sorts. We explore two historical moments: First, the emergence of rebel actions in the years preceding the final stage of independence; we consider factors such as the liberal context, the echoes of the 1814 Cuzco rebellion, and the internal motivations of the social actors who were later hailed as local heroes. Second, the vicissitudes and actions that arose during the final stage of the wars of independence (1820-1824).

Provisioning for the Royalist troops on the Way to the Battle of Ayacucho. Puno, September 1824

2025-07-30T11:39:05-05:00

In the last days of September 1824, some corps of the «king's troops» or of the «southern army», per the documents, crossed the Collao plateau towards Cuzco for the last time and from there headed to their final destination: The Battle of Ayacucho. Thanks to the personal archive of Juan Antonio Larrauri, the last subdelegate of the partido (province) of Azángaro by the end of the viceregal period, we can identify the movement of part of the army that defended the Spanish flags. The main objective is to identify and quantify the origin and type of food and equipment supplied to the royalist troops. We conclude that the products supplied were of vital importance to the Spanish side, and that they originated from the ecological environment and the human labor of the ayllus of the Collao.

The battle of Junín: a milestone in institutional change

2025-07-30T11:41:30-05:00

Beyond the military events, the war of independence is also the process that drives the change from one living system to another: social institutions modify their social semantics in the transition from a monarchical-viceroyal form to a republican-state one. In this sense, in this article, the Battle of Junín is perceived as a bridge between the great institutional change of the era: The Catholic Church had its destinies intertwined with the monarchy in the control of hearts, minds, and bodies, while the army, slowly but surely, intertwined its destinies with the emerging republic due to the need to defend a territory.

The power of the word: student and teacher oratory in post-independence Peru

2025-07-30T11:43:41-05:00

The ability to speak Spanish according to certain conventions has been a variable of social status and political legitimacy throughout Peruvian history. Since colonial times, eloquence was a common practice among those with access to formal education. This article analyzes a sample of speeches given by students and teachers, both men and women, and reproduced in newspapers and pamphlets during the first half-century of Peruvian independence. These speeches have received virtually no historiographical attention. In addition to the religious and political objectives of eloquence in general, studied by other authors, we examine the personal motivations and social aspirations of the speakers. Republican discourse contributed to the participation of traditionally silenced groups in public speaking. Occasionally, these interventions were negatively received, since while for some education and eloquence were vehicles of social mobility, for others they were instruments to ratify and perpetuate existing hierarchies.