Indigenous culture in El Salvador? II
The massacre of the visible
II. How design took me back to national history
The Salvadoran indigenous throughout their history have faced two great battles with the iron gods a poetic name for man with steel. that almost left them lifeless. The first battle during the conquest of the Spanish and the second battle led by Salvadoran hands in the cultural genocide of 1932.
Knowing the pre-Hispanic roots of a Salvadoran has been like joining pieces of a burned puzzle whose parts are stored in different drawers of a large house… a puzzle that piece by piece takes shape when you put them all together.
During this trip to the past, I have felt amazement, anger, admiration, and shame for not knowing my pre-Hispanic graphic roots and it made me wonder why? Why don't I see images or colors of my original roots in my mind?
Remembering the post-war educational system with which I was educated, I can understand that the study time was short (almost everything that was known about our native peoples was massacred in 1932 by the hands of our own government) the knowledge was coarse and the corruption was nefarious.
The educational program I studied was designed to focus on a broad science agenda but very little on national history and identity. The government did not want (nor does it want) the new generations to be aware of what happened in our land, and by not addressing the human rights abuses committed in El Salvador in 1932 (which remain unpunished to this day) in the educational curricula, they make sure that they achieve what they seek, the past lost in oblivion; fortunately, the age of the internet has arrived, and the internet does not forget anything and its records do not disappear so easily.
The absence of recognition of indigenous Salvadorans in the basic studies of their citizens is proof of what many anthropologists establish when they say that recognizing themselves as indigenous in El Salvador is a source of shame. As Jorge Lemus wrote in 2009: "The low conception of indigenous people, is perpetuated in stereotypical expressions used by the general population, such as" se te salió el indio" (meaning you are indigenous because you said something wrong) " dejate de indiadas” (meaning you are indigenous if you continue to behave or stand on stupid attitudes) and "Indio bruto" ( or ‘Dumb indigineous’ that is self-explanatory) all these has been internalized by the natives to the point of believing themselves inferior ”.
Without a doubt, it is impressive to see how the emotional damage born from mockery and fear has been inherited by several Salvadoran generations and that has deeply marked our current behavior perfectly showed when we prefer to talk about our " Spanish great-great-grandfather" than our "Indigenous great-great-grandfather" because we don't want to embrace our cultural origins by saying that we have families in towns or when our photographs only show the beautiful side of things. But in history and in daily life, not everything is beautiful, nor is everything happy.
It is moving to discover how the tangible and intangible heritage of these indigenous peoples was adulterated by forces of power. When beliefs and spirituality (intangible treasures) came to be altered for life at the hands of the Spanish, causing our ancestors to hide their worship of the land and embrace Christianity, and then, when Salvadoran hands were responsible for destroying the tangible of our history, forcing our indigenous people to divest themselves of their costumes, their textures, their colors, and their language.
The beautiful part of all this is that culture is that it is like energy, it cannot be destroyed, it only transforms. Despite all that the Salvadoran indigenous Nahuat Pipil has been through, I have currently found initiatives that promote the conservation and flourishing of our pre-Hispanic identity and that I am very eager to share with you in my next publication.
Now much more than before, as a designer I feel that I owe a visible tribute to my ancestors. Now that I can show its colors, its shapes, and its language, without fear of being killed, now that I can get people from other parts of the world to see it and that, maybe over time they can identify certain elements belonging to El Salvador.
Here is a documentary produced by Universidad Centroamericana (Central American University UCA) that relates what happened in 1932 which is the main reason for the graphic-cultural mental vacuum that I am facing
Before finishing, now that my mind has returned to my school days, I want to thank some of my high school teachers who marked me and who were passionate professionals in their branches of study and dared to give me more in the classroom than what was allowed or required by the education system and that their efforts have flourished in me.
To Ruben Solorzano, for showing me the beauty and importance of literature and letters.
To Imelda Barrientos, for marking my memory and my present with two phrases full of wisdom, where she said to us with a firm and strong voice in the corridors "Remember: first me, second me and third me" and her unforgettable "Divine treasure youth" (and what a great truth is that! haha)
To Vladimir Alfaro, for giving me the basis to form academic research, to open my mind to sociopolitical analysis and for daring to give hard and direct texts to hormonal adolescents in the hope that some of them would get the message.
Thank you, dear teachers, I remember you with great esteem.
"They say that we were born half-dead in 1932, we survived but half alive, each counting thirty thousand whole dead"
Roque Dalton, historias prohibidas del pulgarcito.