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Out Now! Urbanization & Development: Emerging Futures #WorldCitiesReport2016 #NewUrbanAgenda http://wcr.unhabitat.org/ http://thndr.me/lRY0WE
Random musings about El Salvador, and sometimes Central America, in Spanish or English.
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Just opened my @society6 store. Check out my first product here:
Also, you can get 15% OFF on carry all pouches + FREE worldwide shipping by clicking this link: https://goo.gl/KXmvlE (expires March 6)
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Walls Between Us
While I was studying in Europe, a little over a year ago, I got the pleasure of seeing the work of Lia Sáile. I travelled to Vienna to see her art in public space – the temporary installation called ‘Largest Common Divider’ located in three different spots of the city. They represented three major dividers around the world (the USA/Mexico barrier, the Belfast Peace Line and the Israel/West Bank wall), abstracted from their actual context to stimulate dialogue and thought. Presented in white, these walls became a blank canvas open to interpretation. It sparked a bit of introspection into my own reality living at either side of the walls.Not long after that I moved to Asia and lived for a year in a place where walls were a sign of exclusivity and privacy, where you weren’t allowed to enter if you didn’t seem like you could afford it. Anybody else trying to enter was quickly removed by the countless of guards with guns in the premises, after being deemed dangerous for not having the money to live there.
I’ve now returned to El Salvador and the walls here mean something different. They are not necessarily an indication of wealth. They are a sign of fear and distrust. Having lived abroad for two years, I hadn’t fully grasped the intangible walls of El Salvador until now. That sense of insecurity is back in my life, now more heightened than ever. Not only because of the murder statistics with which we are bombarded every day through the media, but the paranoia and fear that freezes people or forces them to act irrationally. I see the same in the news in Europe and the United States about terrorism. They succeeded. The gangs succeeded in terrorising a whole country.
A New Reality
The gangs did not appear out of nothing. They are the result of a terrible civil war. A few months before I left to study abroad, I overheard two relatively old ladies talking about the time before the civil war in El Salvador. They were remembering the children playing outside and knowing all of your neighbours like they were part of your family. Barriers and walls were shorter, merely decorative, and easily crossed to greet your friends. Then the war began, hitting the remote areas first and eventually reaching the capital. The guerrilla and the armed forces entered the city and with that they invaded homes, taking hostages and murdering people at either side of the war. People began building fences higher and stronger, or enforcing their existing ones. It was no longer a decorative element, but protection from anything in the outside world that could hurt them, war related or otherwise.A lot of people fled to the United States, regardless of their economic capacity. Many homes were left behind, abandoned. Today the beautifully crafted fences and walls show the mark of war. Steel and brick grew taller, losing its aesthetic appeal and hiding away the architecture of the homes it swears to protect.
The war ended but it brought more insecurity and crime than ever before. The targets are no longer just those who speak up against injustice and corruption, but hardworking, innocent people who are at the wrong place at the wrong time. The fight for equality that ignited the war is far from over, and the remnants of it remind us that it is the population who lost.
It is now over 20 years since the peace treaties were signed, yet the boundaries created by the war between home and community still remain. The trust in our neighbours has been long lost. Our largest common divider is not the tangible one. Nowadays, to live without these fences feels more like a romantic idea.
More on Lia Sáile: http://liasaile.com
More on the Largest Common Divider: http://divider.liasaile.com -
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PEOPLE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD: The Maya Civilization
THE Maya are an indigenous people of Mexico and Central America who continuously inhabited the lands of modern-day Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras.
The term ‘Maya’ comes from the ancient Yucatan city of Mayapan, the last capital of a Mayan Kingdom in the Post- Classic Period. The Maya people refer to themselves by ethnicity, and language bonds.
The “mysterious Maya” have fascinated the world since their discovery in the 1840’s by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood but in reality, much of the Mayan culture is not that mysterious when understood.
Info by Joshua J. Mark on Ancient History Encyclopedia -
If you’re going to throw out your opinion on the Central America refugee crisis but you don’t want to / aren’t going to critically examine the U.S.’s role in fueling this crisis or the U.S.’s role in the creation and spread of transnational gangs and drug demand and trafficking that the refugees are fleeing
You can sit right the fuck down.
Amen!!! -
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These are just a few trajes. There’s so many different ones. This is not completely representative like at all. cuz just off the bat there’s these and these. I wish I could find better like stuff about trajes. I’m super into learning about how dress varies not just from departamento but by town etc but idk google isn’t much help. x
Regarding the trajes linked to, I always thought they looked oddly Mexican. Like I have this theory, that since Salvadorans don’t preserve their own culture and consume everybody else’s, these trajes were recently considered “trajes tipicos” in El Salvador (like in the 90s) because some Salvadoran fool was in the USA and saw it at a Mexican piñatería or something, and said “hey, we should have those. We don’t have those in El Salvador” and then they just ordered the same style dresses but in different colors, and then sold them as “trajes tipicos” to their compatriots in whatever Salvadoran store in LA or Houston, and bc the Salvadorans buying them didn’t know any better, they thought they were being cute and “representing” but they really weren’t.
Just a theory.
That “theory” or, you know, the reason they look similar is because the past of Mexico and El Salvador is closely related…
People have been wearing these traditional costumes way before the 1990s, way before the war. Go visit some schools in El Salvador and you will at least see some effort in preserving these traditions. We may not be dressed in those outfits for our day to day lives, but that doesn’t mean we all have forgotten our traditions.
On a different note, it’s not that we chose not to preserve our traditions and culture. We were forced to let them go (e.g. Spanish colonization, 1932 peasant massacre, etc.)
ok
- Native mexicans have been in El Salvador for a while. I know that. One of the reasons nahuat was widely spoken in El Salvador was because when the Spanish came, they brought some Nahua Mexicans with them, and those mexicanos ended up settling north of San Salvador… which is why the large suburb north of San Salvador is called Mejicanos. So they brought more of their language… and that’s it.
- where do you live? I dont have the will in me to go through your blog to figure out where you live. your understanding of Salvadoran history is based on where you live and what materials you used. If you were raised outside of El Salvador, and just started learning about Salvadoran traditions, this conversation is over.
- Schools in El Salvador are run by the ministry of education which is run by incompetent people that are agents of cultural erasure. So that these dresses are worn by school children during cultural celebrations can be equally indicative of preservation of native culture or preservation of what they think is native culture.
- Salvadoran culture has been colonized, modified, erased, and shat on for centuries, but Salvadorans need to be held accountable to a degree for the preservation of such. We’re in the age of information. Salvadorans can go cyber cafes and read up on their history instead of watching porn, printing images of the FC Barça logo, or downloading the latest microbusero reggaeton mix. To what extent will all of El Salvador’s problems be blamed on Spain, The United States, or Max Hdz Mtz?
- This conversation is based on european created ideas of political borders. I’m talking about the the pipiles, lencas, and chortis people that lived within the political borders of what we now call El Salvador. The dresses in those graphs are authentic to those regions and people, so they are “Salvadoran”. There’s a reason the dresses in the links don’t appear there, and that’s because they’re not native to El Salvador.
- Your blog is called ‘Third World Country’. That’s the worst possible way to describe El Salvador.
- I said our pasts are closely related. It is no surprise that our cultures would share some similarities. It’s not a question of Mexicans physically being in El Salvador or not.
- Born and raised in El Salvador.
- Yes, of course, the Ministry of Education is run by incompetent people. We can say that about any branch of the government. However, the quality of education was not in discussion here. That’s another subject, way too broad to be discussed here under a few lines. What was said is that there is some effort in trying to preserve our traditions, whether they are 100% authentic or not. The last line, about the perception of culture, can be applied to anything in your life, so I won’t even bother with that one.
- Do you really think that culture and traditions are so static? (I guess I am kind of bothering with that one) I mean, I’m not saying I enjoy what’s in the radios of the common man in our country, but just as you said, we are in the age of information. Cultures are constantly developing, and it’s even easier now to be influenced by foreign ones. Whether some of us think that influence is stupid and hurts our intellect is a completely different thing… 4.1 To what extent will we blame it on the past? To the extent that it continues to be true. Just like you want to preserve traditions, you have to remember the history around them. Imagine how different it would be if, for example, our fathers, in the broad sense of the word, hadn’t been taught to think that being indigenous is “bad”. Now, beware that I’m not saying we are not at fault today for continuing with these perceptions, but unlearning hundreds of years of ideas isn’t done from one day to the other either.
- On regards to the links themselves, I don’t question your judgement of why they’re not in the graphic. However, you escalated that to a whole different level. Hence the comment. Being influenced by, or even “copying”, other cultures is not limited to Salvadorians. Some might even call it a culture on its own. ;)
- The blog is called “Third World Country” precisely because of that. It’s (or was when I was more active with it) about showing El Salvador in a different, hopefully more positive way, through my eyes and what other Salvadorians may consider important as individuals. Not just what they show in the mass media (insecurity, laughable political system, etc.), particularly worldwide.
snooze.
I’m just going to say that China has preserved its culture for 5,000 years, but El Salvador can’t go a decade without mutating.
Surely those rich Chinese buying European cars and hoarding Leicas are just preserving their culture. Listening to Chinese hip hop while driving down the street filled with Hollywoodesque billboards. Copying entire European towns, building the largest malls in the world. Isn’t their specialty counterfeiting nowadays anyway? Yup, that’s preserving culture at its finest. No mutation at all. Great example! How did I not see this before?
(via tabacochanel)
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These are just a few trajes. There’s so many different ones. This is not completely representative like at all. cuz just off the bat there’s these and these. I wish I could find better like stuff about trajes. I’m super into learning about how dress varies not just from departamento but by town etc but idk google isn’t much help. x
Regarding the trajes linked to, I always thought they looked oddly Mexican. Like I have this theory, that since Salvadorans don’t preserve their own culture and consume everybody else’s, these trajes were recently considered “trajes tipicos” in El Salvador (like in the 90s) because some Salvadoran fool was in the USA and saw it at a Mexican piñatería or something, and said “hey, we should have those. We don’t have those in El Salvador” and then they just ordered the same style dresses but in different colors, and then sold them as “trajes tipicos” to their compatriots in whatever Salvadoran store in LA or Houston, and bc the Salvadorans buying them didn’t know any better, they thought they were being cute and “representing” but they really weren’t.
Just a theory.
That “theory” or, you know, the reason they look similar is because the past of Mexico and El Salvador is closely related…
People have been wearing these traditional costumes way before the 1990s, way before the war. Go visit some schools in El Salvador and you will at least see some effort in preserving these traditions. We may not be dressed in those outfits for our day to day lives, but that doesn’t mean we all have forgotten our traditions.
On a different note, it’s not that we chose not to preserve our traditions and culture. We were forced to let them go (e.g. Spanish colonization, 1932 peasant massacre, etc.)
ok
- Native mexicans have been in El Salvador for a while. I know that. One of the reasons nahuat was widely spoken in El Salvador was because when the Spanish came, they brought some Nahua Mexicans with them, and those mexicanos ended up settling north of San Salvador… which is why the large suburb north of San Salvador is called Mejicanos. So they brought more of their language… and that’s it.
- where do you live? I dont have the will in me to go through your blog to figure out where you live. your understanding of Salvadoran history is based on where you live and what materials you used. If you were raised outside of El Salvador, and just started learning about Salvadoran traditions, this conversation is over.
- Schools in El Salvador are run by the ministry of education which is run by incompetent people that are agents of cultural erasure. So that these dresses are worn by school children during cultural celebrations can be equally indicative of preservation of native culture or preservation of what they think is native culture.
- Salvadoran culture has been colonized, modified, erased, and shat on for centuries, but Salvadorans need to be held accountable to a degree for the preservation of such. We’re in the age of information. Salvadorans can go cyber cafes and read up on their history instead of watching porn, printing images of the FC Barça logo, or downloading the latest microbusero reggaeton mix. To what extent will all of El Salvador’s problems be blamed on Spain, The United States, or Max Hdz Mtz?
- This conversation is based on european created ideas of political borders. I’m talking about the the pipiles, lencas, and chortis people that lived within the political borders of what we now call El Salvador. The dresses in those graphs are authentic to those regions and people, so they are “Salvadoran”. There’s a reason the dresses in the links don’t appear there, and that’s because they’re not native to El Salvador.
- Your blog is called ‘Third World Country’. That’s the worst possible way to describe El Salvador.
- I said our pasts are closely related. It is no surprise that our cultures would share some similarities. It’s not a question of Mexicans physically being in El Salvador or not.
- Born and raised in El Salvador.
- Yes, of course, the Ministry of Education is run by incompetent people. We can say that about any branch of the government. However, the quality of education was not in discussion here. That’s another subject, way too broad to be discussed here under a few lines. What was said is that there is some effort in trying to preserve our traditions, whether they are 100% authentic or not. The last line, about the perception of culture, can be applied to anything in your life, so I won’t even bother with that one.
- Do you really think that culture and traditions are so static? (I guess I am kind of bothering with that one) I mean, I’m not saying I enjoy what’s in the radios of the common man in our country, but just as you said, we are in the age of information. Cultures are constantly developing, and it’s even easier now to be influenced by foreign ones. Whether some of us think that influence is stupid and hurts our intellect is a completely different thing… 4.1 To what extent will we blame it on the past? To the extent that it continues to be true. Just like you want to preserve traditions, you have to remember the history around them. Imagine how different it would be if, for example, our fathers, in the broad sense of the word, hadn’t been taught to think that being indigenous is “bad”. Now, beware that I’m not saying we are not at fault today for continuing with these perceptions, but unlearning hundreds of years of ideas isn’t done from one day to the other either.
- On regards to the links themselves, I don’t question your judgement of why they’re not in the graphic. However, you escalated that to a whole different level. Hence the comment. Being influenced by, or even “copying”, other cultures is not limited to Salvadorians. Some might even call it a culture on its own. ;)
- The blog is called “Third World Country” precisely because of that. It’s (or was when I was more active with it) about showing El Salvador in a different, hopefully more positive way, through my eyes and what other Salvadorians may consider important as individuals. Not just what they show in the mass media (insecurity, laughable political system, etc.), particularly worldwide.
(via tabacochanel)
-
View high resolution
These are just a few trajes. There’s so many different ones. This is not completely representative like at all. cuz just off the bat there’s these and these. I wish I could find better like stuff about trajes. I’m super into learning about how dress varies not just from departamento but by town etc but idk google isn’t much help. x
Regarding the trajes linked to, I always thought they looked oddly Mexican. Like I have this theory, that since Salvadorans don’t preserve their own culture and consume everybody else’s, these trajes were recently considered “trajes tipicos” in El Salvador (like in the 90s) because some Salvadoran fool was in the USA and saw it at a Mexican piñatería or something, and said “hey, we should have those. We don’t have those in El Salvador” and then they just ordered the same style dresses but in different colors, and then sold them as “trajes tipicos” to their compatriots in whatever Salvadoran store in LA or Houston, and bc the Salvadorans buying them didn’t know any better, they thought they were being cute and “representing” but they really weren’t.
Just a theory.
That “theory” or, you know, the reason they look similar is because the past of Mexico and El Salvador is closely related…
People have been wearing these traditional costumes way before the 1990s, way before the war. Go visit some schools in El Salvador and you will at least see some effort in preserving these traditions. We may not be dressed in those outfits for our day to day lives, but that doesn’t mean we all have forgotten our traditions.
On a different note, it’s not that we chose not to preserve our traditions and culture. We were forced to let them go (e.g. Spanish colonization, 1932 peasant massacre, etc.)
(via tazadecafe)
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Archaeological News: Mayan Relics Discovered At Salvadoran Construction Site →
In most countries, construction workers uncover faulty pipes, old mason work and heaps of garbage when excavating a plot of land for a new building.
In El Salvador, they find Mayan relics.
Working on a housing project in Colón – about 15 miles from the capital of San Salvador – construction…
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