- By the end of the semester, you should compile an annotated bibliography with at least ten sources that you believe will be central to your research projects.
- Cordova, Carlos. 2005. Salvadoran Americans. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Cordova’s book focuses on the Salvadoran American experience in different locations in the United States. He also gives a lot of contextualization of the Salvadoran Civil War and how it affected all Salvadorans. Many had to witness deaths and the torturing of their loved ones. Some were forced to join the Salvadoran military or the leftist part of FMLN that used guerilla tactics. Cordova also points out that even those that were not directly involved in the fighting were still affected. Thousands of Salvadorans fled the country. I intend on using this book to contextualize why Salvadorans migrated to the United States. It also confirms a lot of the experiences my family has shared about the civil war.
- Coutin, Susan Bibler. 2007. Nations of emigrants: shifting boundaries of citizenship in El Salvador and the United States. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Coutin talks about the intricacies of politics and the economy in Salvadoran identity both in El Salvador and the United States. Both of these factors sparked the Salvadoran Civil War which caused many to flee to the United States. Even after the peace accords were signed in 1992, many still decided to migrate to the United States since the violence and poor economy had not changed in El Salvador. Coutin mentions the idea of “hermanos lejanos” which was introduced by the Salvadoran government to amend relationships with Salvadorans abroad. Also, it was interesting to see how rhetoric about the war and migrants changed which has helped shaped Salvadorans’ transnational identity. Besides providing additional context, this book will be helpful in understanding how Salvadoran transnational identity was created and how place-making was ingrained early on.
- Coutin, Susan Bibler. 2016. Exiled home: Salvadoran transnational youth in the aftermath of violence. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
The book discusses how the civil war and the rhetoric surrounding it impacted the legal status of Salvadorans seeking refuge in the United States. The United States helped finance the Salvadoran Civil War with millions of dollars which went to the Salvadoran military. This money was used to train, arm, and dispatch death squads that contributed to the deaths of many innocent civilians and members of the opposing party. The reason that the United States got involved is that they feared that communism would take over El Salvador. However, since the United States was involved, the narrative they pushed forward about the war was depoliticized and portrayed as a purely economic conflict. The depoliticization of the civil war made Salvadoran migrants ineligible for asylum refuge because they were considered economic and not political migrants. Understanding that the civil war affected the legal status of Salvadorans also helps us understand how they had to navigate the United States as undocumented which brings additional struggles.
- Menjívar, Cecilia. 2006. “Liminal Legality: Salvadoran and Guatemalan Immigrants’ Lives in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 111(4): 999-1037.
Menjivar uses the terms “liminal legality” and “legal nonexistence” to describe the experience of Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants in the United States. Both of these types of Latinos fled to the United States because of turmoil in their home countries caused by civil wars. The legality of Salvadorans, as Coutin also mentioned, is complicated because they were labeled as economic migrants. Menjivar found that the unstable legal status of Salvadorans made it difficult for them to obtain jobs and access resources. Additionally, many families were separated because of migration and deportation. Not being recognized by the United States with legal status and being labeled by El Salvador as traitors for leaving their country left Salvadorans in a transitional state where they did not feel like they belonged anywhere. This article adds implications and nuance to the complicated legal status of Salvadorans. Their “liminal legality” made their cultural assimilation more difficult and in many ways, their experiences with the civil war were negated and erased.
- Menjívar, Cecilia and Leisy J. Abrego. 2012. “Legal Violence: Immigration Law and the Lives of Central American Immigrants.” American Journal of Sociology 117(5): 1380-1421.
Menjivar and Abrego talk about viewing legality as a new axis of stratification that has led to segmented assimilation for many Central American immigrants. The authors use Bourdieu’s idea of symbolic violence and normalization theory to understand the legality and the stratification it causes. They consider legal violence in work, family, and school. This article adds to Coutin’s Exiled Homes and Menjivar’s work on liminal legality. I want to use Bourdieu’s idea of symbolic violence to understand the tension between Mexicans and Salvadorans in Los Angeles. Using this theory can provide more nuance to the experience of assimilation, especially for those in Southern California. It would be interesting to then compare the experience of Southern California Salvadorans with that of New York Salvadorans.
- Rodriguez, Ana Patricia. 2005. “’Departamento 15’: Cultural Narratives of Salvadoran Transnational Migration.” Latino Studies 3(1): 19-41.
Rodriguez focuses on the idea of “Departamento 15” which is an idea that was created by the Salvadoran government to reference all the Salvadoran living abroad. This concept institute place as a part of Salvadoran identity. Salvadorans abroad were no longer seen as traitors for migrating during the civil war. The author brings up an interesting point about why the Salvadoran government popularized this idea and type of identity. Rodriguez believes that the government realized how much El Salvador’s economy benefited from remittances. Therefore, amending the relationship with Salvadorans abroad would incentivize them to continue sending back money to El Salvador. Also, this idea shows how easily a government can shape a narrative. A part of “Departamento 15” is that the government wanted people to come together and “forget” the civil war. In many ways, collective memory shapes how Salvadorans remember the war and view El Salvador now that they are in the United States.
- Oliva Alvarado, Karina. 2017. “Cultural Memory and making by US Central Americans.” Latino Studies 15(4): 476-497.
Oliva Alvarado’s work focuses on the cultural memory of Salvadorans and Salvadoran Americans. She views collective memory as “a form of speaking back and refusing erasure.” In many ways, we can consider collective memory as a way to deal with collective and cultural trauma. The author provides many examples of art and other forms of expression where Salvadorans and Salvadoran Americans are telling their stories. These forms of expression can be seen as a form of remembrance and solidarity amongst Salvadorans, but it also allows non-Salvadorans to understand our struggles. Oliva Alvarado mentions that historically, silence has been a strategy for survival for many Salvadorans, especially during the civil war. This shows that there is a dilemma between silence and sharing stories for Salvadorans which can help explain why there are not many studies focusing on Salvadorans relative to other Latinos. Overall, art can also be considered a form of place-making, viewing it as an act of resistance adds even more importance to this project.
- Arias, Arturo. 2003. “Central American-Americans: Invisibility, Power and Representation in the US Latino World.” Latino Studies 1(1): 168-187.
Arias’s work looks at the experience of Central Americans assimilating into the United States but I only use his findings related to Salvadoran migrants. One of the main findings is that generally, Central Americans have to cope with the trauma of dead relatives and poverty when coming to the United States. In areas that are heavily populated by Mexicans, Central Americans also had to deal with Mexicanization themselves to fit in. He describes Central Americans as triply tainted because of their illegal status, labeled as communists, and viewing themselves as subordinate to Mexicans. Arias also brings up the struggle of not fitting into the United States but no longer fitting into their home countries which makes it hard to craft your identity. This work will be helpful in explaining the intricacies of Salvadoran identity formation in the United States. The lack of a sense of belonging makes it difficult to make the United States home and to build a network of support.
- Oliva Alvarado, Karina. 2013. “An interdisciplinary reading of Chicana/o and (US) Central American cross-cultural narrations.” Latino Studies 11(3): 366-387.
Oliva Alvarado analyzes Central American identity in Southern California. Her focus is on the fact that Mexicans are culturally dominant in Southern California since they form the majority of the Latino population there and have been present in the area for centuries. In comparison, Salvadorans have not been in Los Angeles for that long and along with other Central Americans are the minority of Latinos in the area. During the 1980s, the large wave of Salvadoran migrants felt the need to conform to Mexican culture in order to obtain jobs and not be discriminated against by other Latinos. Also, the author states that using terms like Central Americans and Hispanic blur political histories and stratifications. This can help further explain why Salvadoran stories are not as widespread and why Salvadorans are rarely included in Hispanic and Latino studies.
- Bermudez, Esmeralda. 2008. “In L.A., speaking ‘Mexican’ to fit in.” Los Angeles Times (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-nov-03-me-salvadoran3-story.html)
Bermudez interviewed a few Salvadoran migrant workers to collect her data about Salvadoran identity in Los Angeles. Like other Salvadorans, many of the workers mentioned the pressure of having to assimilate to Mexican culture to secure jobs since they dominated a lot of service and low-income jobs. These Salvadorans felt that Mexicans were able to navigate the city better because of their connections, it was easier to fit in. However, the Mexicanization of Salvadorans led many to feel resentment toward Mexicans. For many, this also resulted in deeper pride in differentiating themselves and their culture from the dominant Mexican culture. Bermudez notes that Mexicans have had roots in Los Angeles for centuries which has expanded their networks and influence in the city which Salvadorans had not yet done. This article was helpful in understanding why being labeled as Mexican is such an insult for many Salvadorans in Los Angeles. Recognition of their Salvadoran identity is a way to reclaim their agency and resist Mexicanization.
- Molina-Tamacas, Carmen. 2020. SalviYorkers. Independently Published.
Molina-Tamacas helps tell the story of Salvadorans in New York, specifically in Queens and Long Island. After interviewing Salvadorans, she found that soccer is a form of place-making for many Salvadorans since it is a sport that they grew up playing. Her work builds on Mahler’s work of Salvadorans living in the suburbs of Long Island. Another major finding of this book is that the reason why Salvadorans remained in the suburbs of Long Island despite its high prices is that historically the area received a lot of immigrants and in the 1980s there was an economic boom that brought low-income jobs. This book can help me create a comparison between West Coast and East Coast Salvadorans. In the West Coast, Salvadorans typically stay in urban cities like Los Angeles. In the East Coast, “SalviYorkers” mostly reside in the suburbs of Long Island. The ability to live in the suburbs right after migrating likely opened up opportunities for Salvadoran Americans that those living in cities and urban settings did not have access to.
- Mahler, Sarah J. 1995. Salvadorans in suburbia: symbiosis and conflict. Needham Heights, MA: Simon and Schuster.
Mahler’s research focuses on Salvadorans living in the suburbs of Long Island New York. She used interviews with many people to capture different aspects of Salvadoran assimilation in New York. Her work helped Molina-Tamacas understand Salvadoran identity in more recent times. Mahler notices that in comparison to other Latino migrants in New York, Salvadorans came to the United States poorer and with less education. The poverty and lack of education made it more difficult to transition into the United States because they did have the language and necessary resources to succeed on their own. However, with time, Salvadorans have begun to build a dependable network in Long Island which continues drawing Salvadoran migrants to New York. This network is what Salvadorans in Los Angeles seemed to be lacking in the 1980s which shows how Salvadorans in different areas assimilate differently. It also shows the importance of resources and networks for migrants, without these it can be difficult to find jobs, find a place to live, and build a better life than the one they left behind in El Salvador.