- Between weeks 8 and 14, each student should provide a weekly reflection (500 words) on the data you have collected to date.
- What data did you collect?
- What is your initial impression of the data?
- How have the data you have collected this week changed/progressed your thinking about your research project?
- What challenges did you encounter while collecting the data?
- What are your next steps?
This week I focused on collecting sources regarding the Salvadoran experience in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has been home to a majority Mexican population which has affected the culture of the city. Growing up I noticed a tension between Salvadorans and Mexicans. I have always wondered why this is. “An interdisciplinary reading of Chicana/o and (US) Central American cross-cultural narrations” by Karina Oliva Alvarado mentions that Mexicans in Southern California are contextually dominant. Salvadorans in Los Angeles especially in the 1980s felt the need to conform to Mexican culture in order to obtain jobs and not be discriminated against by other Latinos. In a LA Times article, Esmeralda Bermudez interviewed Salvadoran migrant workers. She found that many Salvadorans felt that they were betraying their identity and not living up to expectations because they had to undergo Mexicanization. This sense of betrayal led to a reclaiming of Salvadoran identity and newfound pride. Bermudez also notes that Mexicans had roots and networks in Los Angeles that date back centuries which Salvadorans and other Central Americans did not.
These two sources helped me understand why Salvadorans in Los Angeles are different than those in other areas of the United States like New York. Mexican and Chicanx culture is so popular in Los Angeles that it has become the dominant culture. Salvadorans in Southern California first must Mexicanize before even assimilating into American culture. The tension between Salvadorans and Mexicans stems from this pressure and resentment. Salvadorans feel that they are losing themselves in order to find a job and secure a better future which leads to resentment against Mexican networks that have been known to gatekeep certain service jobs. I learned more about why being labeled as Mexicans is such an attack for Salvadorans, it has become a form of symbolic violence.
I did not encounter any challenges this week in finding data about the Salvadoran experience in Los Angeles and Southern California. My next step would be to look into the Salvadoran experience in New York. I know that there are large Salvadoran communities in Queens and in Long Island so it will be interesting to see how Salvadorans have assimilated in the East Coast and how this differs from the West Coast experience.