Parcels: Memories of Salvadoran Migration (Latinidad: Transnational Cultures in the United States)

About this book

In light of new proposals to control undocumented migrants in the United States Parcels prioritizes rural Salvadoran remembering in an effort to combat the collective amnesia that supports the logic of these historically myopic strategies. Mike Anastario investigates the social memories of individuals from a town he refers to as El Norteo a rural municipality in El Salvador that was heavily impacted by the Salvadoran Civil War which in turn fueled a mass exodus to the United States. By working with two viajeros (travelers) who exchanged encomiendas (parcels containing food medicine documents photographs and letters) between those in the U.S. and El Salvador Anastario tells the story behind parcels and illuminates their larger cultural and structural significance. This narrative approach elucidates key arguments concerning the ways in which social memory permits and is shaped by structural violence particularly the U.S. actions and policies that have resulted in the emotional and physical distress of so many Salvadorans. The book uses analyses of testimonies statistics memories of migration the war and of course the many parcels sent over the border to create an innovative and necessary account of post-Civil War El Salvador.