I was enticed to examine El Salvador as my photo essay topic because I am currently tutoring english to a woman from El Salvador. I volunteer along with a Spanish 301 service learning class that visits a church in Kingston weekly to provide free english classes. One of my first students I met and currently work with is named Belkis. She was born and lived her whole life in El Salvador, until six months ago when she and her six month old son traveled to America. Though Belkis and I can converse in spanish and a bit in english I did not want to pester her with questions, photos, or interviews (The one of picture of the english class with Belkis was taken by the pastor of the church).
At first I was a little overwhelmed I considered research Salvadoran feminism but a video helped me decide. Watching a video on the geography of El Salvador I came across the names of the indigenous groups of that resided in El Salvador prior to colonization.
The second photo of my essay depicts the geographical location of numerous indigenous groups, the largest being the Pipil and Lenca people. In fact the fierceness of the Pipil people forced Spain to attempt colonization twice in 1525 and 1528. The Pipil people are descendants of the Nahuatl people who were migrants from Central Mexico. Quickly the indigenous groups of El Salvador were no longer allowed to practice their own culture, language, or way of dress. Spain continued Colonization through imperializing cocoa, indigo, and later coffee from El Salvador.
My third picture depicts the current flag of El Salvador which has been in place since 1912. Though El Salvador had declared independence from Spain colonization in 1840 they really only lost most of Spain’s physical presence in the country, as coloniality still remained. El Salvador would continue in its future to struggle for political and bureaucratic stability. My fourth and fifth pictures are ones of embracing indigenous culture. The fourth photo was taken at an International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples celebration in El Salvador. The picture does not have a caption but includes corn, candles, spices, and other cultural symbols. Much of the indigenous culture was restricted during Spanish rule, and even after El Salvador gained freedom from Spain in 1821 there were no acts taken to counter the loss of indigenous culture. My final photo is one of an indigenous women in her own cultural dress participating in World Indigenous Peoples Day in the San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador in 2016. In my last two photos I wanted to use pictures of Salvadorans celebrating their indigenous culture. Finding information on El Salvador was not difficult, it was harder to choose what to represent as there is large rich history of indigenous people and colonization. There has been a long overlooking of indigenous rights and struggle for centuries. Only very recently, in 2014, did the Salvadoran government put forward legislation to protect indigenous groups in El Salvador. There has been progress for indigenous rights, but still there is more work to be done.
Instagram post link
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu14sJsgrd1/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1fj1hspycqx9h
Work Referenced
“El Salvador.” Wikipedia, 7 Mar. 2019. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title =El_Salvador&oldid=886688464.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Salvador
GeorginaNicoli. International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples: El Salvador – The invisible indigenous. 10 Aug. 2016 http://www.progressio.org.uk/blog/ics-blog/i
nternational-day-worlds-indigenous-peoples-el-salvador-invisible-indigenous.
Geography Now. Geography Now! El Salvador! YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t5uzY77zwA. Accessed 10 Mar. 2019.
“Pipils.” Minority Rights Group, https://minorityrights.org/minorities/pipils/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2019
Timeline: El Salvador. 16 Aug. 2012. News.bbc.co.uk, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/h i/americas/1220818.stm.
