British-Chilean Newspapers: from Informal Empire to Hybridity in Print

Abstract

This article situates the Anglophone newspapers published in nineteenth-century Valparaíso, Chile, within global information networks, highlighting Valparaíso's role as an influential hub in the development of the informal empire. These publications, reflecting the characteristics of the nineteenth-century foreign-language press in their production, content, and readership, underscore the extensive influence of British cultural and economic influence, which extended well beyond the bounds of formal empire. Central to this study is the Anglophone Chile Newspaper Project, which not only preserves these publications through digitization but also facilitates their global dissemination. In its theoretical framing too, this essay contributes to the larger goal of overcoming disciplinary silos, working to forge a complex understanding of the intersectional identities that shape national, transnational, and global perspectives. Our theoretical framework accords with our material efforts to reconnect this siloed and endangered archive with the global ‘big data’ projects that are capitalizing on the accelerating pace of newspaper digitization, thus providing a platform for understanding the transnational narratives and transoceanic exchanges, championing a reinvigorated discourse on identity, transculturation, and the interplay between local and global dynamics. By situating the English-language press within the broader context of foreign-language print media, the project underscores the newspapers' contribution to the dynamic identity transformations within British colonies and, in turn, the enduring impact of print culture on contemporary globalized identities.