Testimonios as a tool for Preserving Collective Memory of the Salvadoran Civil War

• In Event: Cultivating Peace through Resistance: Teaching for Justice Across Borders and Histories

Proposal

This paper examines the role of testimonios as a tool for preserving collective memory of the Salvadoran Civil War and challenging historical erasure in both community and academic spaces.
Grounded in liberation psychology, which asserts that true liberation requires centering the needs and experiences of those most oppressed by systemic forces, this project collects and analyzes personal narratives from survivors to illuminate their lived realities of war, displacement, and resistance that are often silenced or distorted in dominant historical accounts.
Rooted in community practice rather than formal education, this work calls for collaboration between dominant forces and marginalized communities to create solutions grounded in justice and truth.
By insisting that these voices be recognized within academic spaces as the true and authoritative accounts of what occurred, the project reframes history as a communal and dialogic process. In doing so, it takes a step toward true liberation from psychological oppression for survivors, fostering collective healing, critical consciousness, and pluralistic/expanded cultures of peace while connecting past struggles to present realities of migration, systemic violence, and resilience within Salvadoran and diasporic communities.

Author

• Genesis Jasmin Morales, UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO