Stories of the civil war in El Salvador: a narrative battle

Abstract

Since the end of their civil war in 1992, Salvadorans have produced an unprecedented number of published life histories in the form of testimonies and memoirs/autobiographies. The basis for this study is to have read those life histories comprehensively to determine if any patterns exist in them in terms of content and/or narrative style. My principal finding is that four distinct memory communities in these life stories sources. Each community if defined by a unique and coherent narrative that its members employ with marked consistency. These four narratives are mutually exclusive and their existence suggests that post-war El Salvador is defined by a narrative battle or the memory and meaning of the civil war.

Realidad: Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades No. 153, 2019: 23-47