Exiled Home: Salvadoran Transnational Youth in the Aftermath of Violence

Description

In Exiled Home, Susan Bibler Coutin recounts the experiences of Salvadoran children who migrated with their families to the United States during the 1980–1992 civil war. Because of their youth and the violence they left behind, as well as their uncertain legal status in the United States, many grew up with distant memories of El Salvador and a profound sense of disjuncture in their adopted homeland. Through interviews in both countries, Coutin examines how they sought to understand and overcome the trauma of war and displacement through such strategies as recording community histories, advocating for undocumented immigrants, forging new relationships with the Salvadoran state, and, for those deported from the United States, reconstructing their lives in El Salvador. In focusing on the case of Salvadoran youth, Coutin’s nuanced analysis shows how the violence associated with migration can be countered through practices that recuperate historical memory while also reclaiming national membership. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 16 Chapter 1: Violence and Silence......Page 36 Chapter 2: Living in the Gap......Page 70 Chapter 3: Dreams......Page 110 Chapter 4: Exiled Home through Deportation......Page 144 Chapter 5: Biographies and Nations......Page 180 Conclusion: Re/membering Exiled Homes......Page 220 Appendix......Page 242 Notes......Page 246 References......Page 256 Index......Page 280