- Project Summary: In no more than 200 words, provide a brief description of your project, including the puzzle you intend to address, the key questions your project attempts to answer, and a brief discussion of how you intend on answering those questions.
As the semester has progressed, I have taken up an interest in reimagining the future of sociology and the “sociological imagination” through the expansion of narratives and access to the discipline. I want to study the importance of including overshadowed narratives by looking at the Salvadoran experience in the United States. In Latinx studies, Salvadorans are understudied and our experiences are conflated with that of other Latinxs.
The puzzle I intend to address is why the process of collapsing multiple Latinx identities under one is so prevalent in sociology and the implications this has. I plan on connecting this to power dynamics of access and obtaining legitimacy in the field. By exploring and detailing the uniqueness of a Salvadoran identity I will demonstrate the value of expanding what narratives are included in sociology. Using El Salvador’s civil war for context will be crucial in understanding the development of Salvadoran identity and placemaking in the United States. Other areas that can be explored besides El Salvador’s history are Salvadorans’ assimilation, the “rivalry” between Mexicans and Salvadorans, and who has been studying the Salvadoran identity.