My research proposes new ways of thinking about displacement by investigating the development of postwar memories over an extended period and assessing their impact on intergenerational knowledge. I focus on the Salvadoran diaspora in Canada and Australia.  By examining the convergence of these settler-colonial sites, my research will provide a fresh and transcontinental perspective.

As a member of the SSHRC-funded Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador research team, my postdoctoral research examines the memory of Salvadorans in Canada and Australia through creative practice, participatory methods, and community-led approaches. As a researcher, I ask: what can we learn from this unique encounter and how might initiatives between Salvadorans in Canada and Australia support sustained collaboration? How can creative and community-based research approaches develop better understandings of the wartime memories that survive in the diaspora? How do we assemble, share, and honor these memories?  My specific objectives are to:

1.  Strengthen knowledge exchange between Canada and Australia in a way that fosters sustained collaboration transnationally and intergenerationally.

2. Enhance lived-experience understanding of forced displacement in relation to memory and place-making practices among Salvadorans in the diaspora.

3. Explore and document the intersection of performance and memory by investigating the role of performance, both during the civil war and in contemporary practices, to understand how artistic expression contributes to the preservation and representation of surviving memory.

4. Develop and support decolonial methodologies through arts-based and creative interventions.

5. Address gaps in Latin American studies and refugee studies related to Salvadoran displacement with specific focus on Canada and Australia.

Creative Practice

ISTHMUS Exhibition

I curated the exhibition ISTHMUS, which brought together Central American artists in Australia and artists based in Central America, fostering a rich exchange of perspectives. This exhibition is the first of its kind in Australia.

Site Responsive Works and Exhibition

Archiving the Present (AtP)

 I initiated Archiving the Present (AtP), a multi-site digital community archive project from a Central American perspective. AtP develops alterative practices of remembering that challenge colonial forms of memory aesthetics. Website: https://archivingthepresent.com/

As part of the project, AtP developed a community library made up of Náhuat, Spanish and English texts for all ages focusing on Central American stories, themes, voices, authors, thinkers and artists. You can find the online catalogue of books here https://artsgen.org/catalogue/ . See also https://archivingthepresent.com/community-library
The project established Náhuat Saturday School, an eight week long introduction to Náhuat for the Salvadoran displaced diaspora  https://archivingthepresent.com/nahuat-saturday-school

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