The conversations leading to the creation of this journal began in 2010, a year when student protests were on the rise. Professors continued to be available during class time, which made space for open conversations with students. Fom those, an idea was born: to create a journal within the Faculty of Letters focused on literatures in English. The journal would be a platform for academic articles as well as creative writing by university students and professors. By 2011, professors Carmen Luz Fuentes-Vásquez, Allison Ramay and several undergraduate students: Juan Pablo Vilches, Francisco Aranguiz, Beatriz Rengifo, Manuela Mercado and Francisca Ibaceta, launched the journal White Rabbit: English Studies in Latin America. The name reflected the curiosity and excitement of creating a new journal regarding a topic that had not yet been the focus of academic discussions via a formalized journal in Chile. The topic was literature and contemporary literary and cultural theories in English. A major highlight from Issue 1 was an interview by the White Rabbit staff with activist, theorist and academic Judith Butler titled “Meaningful Protests in the Kitchen: An Interview with Judith Butler”.

In 2017, the journal’s name was revised to English Studies in Latin America: A Journal of Cultural and Literary Studies or ESLA to better reflect its commitment to cultural and literary criticism. Additionally, over time, it became difficult to maintain undergraduates within the permanent staff. And despite the journal’s continued double-blind peer review system in place, it seemed that academics were hesitant to send their contributions because of indexation requirements within Latin American universities. Therefore, in 2017, editors Allison Ramay and Andrea Casals took the necessary steps to index the journal in MLA and Latindex, which was complete that year.