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.

Prior to reading this article I actually had a very weak grasp on Indigenous Pacific Islander Feminism.  Even the differentiation between the identities of Asian and Pacific Islander I was previously unclear on. Therefore I would like to discuss what I consider the most important point of this article. One of the primary issues with using a term like Asian Pacific Islander is that it has been so over used that it has started to homogenize the identities of both groups. The social location of identifying as Asian is not the same as one who  identifies as Pacific Islander.  The Asian Pacific Islander grouping has also been used as a tool of erasure by making it easy for non-informed scholars and others to glaze over the indigenous roots of Pacific Island people. In the idea of trying to groups Asians and Pacific islanders one with a decolonial standpoint will see that there is an over representation of Asian identities and a severely lack of representation for Pacific Island people. In reference to Haunani-Kay Trask, a vital scholar of Hawaii and its colonization,   Dr. Trask describes how the metaphorical and literal bloodshed of indigenous people in Hawaii has reinforced the goals of settler colonialism. In order to conquer settler colonialism requires the extraction of indigenous people, their culture, and their land. Further into the colonial mindset Asian Americans have been implicitly and explicitly assimilated to also take part in the erasure of indigenous groups. The tens of thousands of island in the Pacific ocean have been subject to the white gazes of colonial tourism.  Where people only come to said islands to enjoy the “culture” hula girls, and scenic beaches. This is where Pacific islander women are dehumanized, hyper-sexualized, and only free to express to express their bodies in means of serving a colonial white gaze. In order to embrace a decolonial mindset with in the Pacific Islands one must separate the grouping of Asian Pacific Islander so that the colonial matters of indigenous struggles can be examined in their own context.

This Mexican-American’s Tweet Went Viral For Repping Their Culture And Non-Binary Gender Expression

From 2017 but still highly relevant and glamorous as heck

The term colonial is used to define the effects in an area and time that has been colonized or is currently being colonized. The mindset of America today can be described as colonial because it features practices and social structures that uphold an oppressive settler colonial mindset. Anticolonial is used to describe the rejection of a colonial mindset, colonial practices and there are more ways to apply this that I am not completely sure. Anticolonial stands against all that has upheld traditional mindsets that have continued to oppressed marginalized groups in the form of a power dynamic. Decolonial is a unique term because I feel as if I have a better understanding of the verb decolonizing instead of decolonial. In my best effort I believe that decolonial is a way to challenge practices, mindsets, and procedures with a critical eye. A decolonial point of view is aware of intersecting oppression such as race, class, and gender and how practices contribute to non-inclusive views. I associate the term Postcolonial in the field of feminism. Postcolonial feminism is one that came about similarly to the way black feminism separated from white feminism for the group not acknowledging the lived experience of women of color. Postcolonial feminism differs from western feminism which in the past has attempted to universalize women’s oppression. Postcolonial feminism rejects a euro-centric mindset by utilizing a decolonial point of view. Im not sure if Postcolonial is a more simple broad term that defines a time after colonization.

I think I figured this out