Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador: Participatory Research and Co-Creation with Civil War Survivors

The Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador (www.elsalvadormemory.org) collaborative research initiative is an international partnership of survivors, scholars, artists, lawyers, museums, architects, community organizers, municipal governments, civil society organizations, and mental health professionals who are committed to documenting the history of the Salvadoran Civil War (1980–1992), supporting transitional justice, and preventing future violence. Using decolonial and participatory methodologies, the team’s goal is to engage in high-impact, community-driven research projects, oral histories, and accessible knowledge-sharing activities that approach historical memory work holistically through the intersections of justice; art, music, and theatre; intergenerational education; documentation and testimonies; mental health and healing; commemoration; environmental reparation; and local economic reconstruction. In this Round Table discussion, Dr. Amanda Grzyb will provide an overview of the project, and then several members of our team will highlight examples of our participatory projects in El Salvador, emphasizing our survivor-led methodologies in formal and informal spaces; the relationships between grassroots organizations and international collaborators; and the role of art, architecture, documentation, and intergenerational and cross-sector dialogue in postwar recovery and justice. Example #1: Community Books (Dr. Adriana Alas) El Salvador has undergone a complex and lengthy transition from war to peace due to an Amnesty Law that precludes any possibility for formal justice. The victims of the war are forced to live together with perpetrators in the same communities, and some are even part of the same state reparations programs. Communities in the department of Chalatenango—communities that were repopulated in 1987—have initiated several memory projects that work toward an alternative form of community justice. Our community books series is part of that process, acknowledging war crimes and documenting victims’ testimonials. According to our participatory/co-creation methodologies and informed by local cultural practices, the community books address community interests such as the transition from war to peace, collective resilience, specific events during the war, and the reconstruction of communities after the war. The books are co-created in collaboration with younger generations from the community, responding to the requests of youth to be incorporated into war memory projects and, simultaneously, opening spaces to rethink their communities and strengthen their solidarity with the victims. Example #2: Dilemmas and complexities before justice: the memories of the Salvadoran armed conflict in sons and daughters of former military combatants (Fernando Chacón Serrano) More than 30 years have passed since the formal end of the Salvadoran Armed Conflict (1980–1992) between the FMLN guerrilla and the Salvadoran Armed Forces. To date, El Salvador has still not achieved true national reconciliation, and justice remains a pending issue. No actor involved in war crimes has ever been prosecuted. Today, new generations have emerged who did not experience this period but who have been socialized in the post-conflict context. Studies on postmemory in the country are few and relatively new, especially those that address memories from the military side. In 2022, we carried out a study with children of former military combatants with the aim of understanding how they construct memories of this violent past and how they feel about justice processes. In general, young people face dilemmas about justice because they experience tensions between family loyalty and public responsibility for truth. Although they believe that justice must be achieved for crimes committed by both sides, they recognize that their position would be complicated if their own father were involved. This internal conflict results in guilt, shame, and choosing silence, which hinders present and future justice processes. Despite this barrier, new generations remain more open to discussing these issues, inviting us to reflect on the type of justice the country now needs. Example #3: Participatory Architectural Design of Memorials (Dr. Harold Fallon, Evelia Macal, and Thomas Montulet) Our contribution revolves around our involvement in the participatory architectural design and collaborative implementation of memorials and historical memory museums in Chalatenango, El Salvador. The projects span various stages, from initial investigations to advanced design, with one notable project—the Memorial Park of Las Aradas—nearing completion. This presentation will focus specifically on the participatory process within this project, highlighting two key interventions. First, we describe the creation of a ceramics memorial in partnership with students and professors from the School of Arts at the National University of El Salvador. Second, we explore the development of a large-scale mural that provides a comprehensive depiction of the events and individuals associated with the Sumpul Massacre—its antecedents and its ramifications during the civil war—in collaboration with two artists from Chalatenango. These two processes exemplify community-driven participation in a multidisciplinary context, fostering pedagogical activities, in-depth investigation, and thorough documentation.