Visible Yet Invisible: Indigenous Citizens and History Education in El Salvador and Guatemala

• In Event: Education and Citizen Formation in Central America

Abstract

El Salvador and Guatemala both underwent civil wars that severely impacted both countries’ most marginalized citizens, including indigenous peoples. Today, spaces for the teaching and learning of the violent past are challenged in each country, with implications for indigenous and non- indigenous people alike. This paper traces the impact of democratization in El Salvador and Guatemala on the educational sphere, documenting the trends in what is being said and what is being silenced about the civil wars in formal and informal education sectors.
We argue that different democratization and transitional justice processes have created certain opportunities and challenges for teaching and learning about indigenous peoples’ roles and experiences in the civil wars in each country. Methodologically, the article draws on ethnographic, interview, and text-based data as well as democratization, transitional justice, and education literatures to document how teaching and learning the violent past is a highly politicized act with long-term implications for democratic quality in each country.

Author

• Mneesha Gellman, Emerson College