This article explores the value trajectories of island guano, a fundamental resource in Peru’s economic and political history during the nineteenth century, highlighting its evolution over the past 114 years. The academic literature on economic and political globalization has devoted relatively little attention to guano compared with other resources such as minerals and oil. Although guano has regained importance as an organic fertilizer in both domestic and emerging markets, its contemporary trajectory remains understudied. This study seeks to fill that gap by analyzing the factors that have shaped the use and valuation of guano. It argues that guano is a singular commodity that responds not only to market demand but is also socially constructed through cultural valuations, technoscientific interventions, and state logics. Through a historical and contemporary analysis, the article examines the tensions surrounding its commodification and singularization, focusing on a “moral economy” structured by state intervention. The theoretical framework draws on the concepts of the “social life of things,” “commodification,” and “displacement” to understand the dynamics that shape the value of guano.
