El Salvador

The Myths of Violence: Gender, Conflict, and Community in El Salvador

Citation:

Hume, Mo. 2008. “The Myths of Violence: Gender, Conflict, and Community in El Salvador.” Latin American Perspectives 35 (5): 59-76.

Author: Mo Hume

Abstract:

Emprirical data gathered in El Salvador indicate that knowledge about violence there is built upon an exclusionary and highly masculinist logic. Violence has come to be perceieved  as normal through a political  project that has actively employed terror to persure its ends. The process has been made possible by a legitimiation of violence as a key element of male gender identity. Political circumstances in El Salvador, principally in war, have both nourished and reinforced a sense of gender identity based on polarization, exclusion, and hegemony.

Keywords: El Salvador, masculinities, violence, Gender, Subaltern

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Violence Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador

Year: 2008

Pulled, Pushed and Persuaded: Explaining Women’s Mobilization into the Salvadoran Guerrilla Army

Citation:

Viterna, Jocelyn. 2006. “Pulled, Pushed and Persuaded: Explaining Women’s Mobilization into the Salvadoran Guerrilla Army.” American Journal of Sociology 112 (1): 1-45.

Author: Jocelyn Viterna

Abstract:

Using a rare representative sample of grassroots activists and nonactivists, this study identifies three paths that consistently led Salvadoran women to involvement in the FMLM guerrilla army: politicized guerillas, reluctant guerillas, and recruited guerillas. These mobilization paths arose from the patterned intersections of individual-level biographies, networks, and situational contexts. The implications of these findings extend beyond studies of revolutionary activism to analyses of microlevel mobilization in general. Activists are heterogeneous and often follow multiple paths to the same participation outcome. Capturing these multiple paths is imperative for generating theoretically sound explanations of mobilization that are also empirically effective in distinguishing activists from nonactivists.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador

Year: 2006

Gender Equality in the Salvadoran Transition

Citation:

Luciak, Ilja A. 1999. “Gender Equality in the Salvadoran Transition.” Latin American Perspectives 26 (2): 43-67. doi:10.1177/0094582X9902600203.

Author: Ilja A. Luciak

Topics: Democracy / Democratization, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador

Year: 1999

The Civil War That Was Fought by Children: Understanding the Role of Child Combatants in El Salvador’s Civil War, 1980-1992

Citation:

Courtney, Jocelyn. 2010. “The Civil War That Was Fought by Children: Understanding the Role of Child Combatants in El Salvador’s Civil War, 1980-1992.” Journal of Military History 74 (2):523-56.

Author: Jocelyn Courtney

Abstract:

From 1980 to 1992, the Salvadoran government and the Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation (FMLN) fought each other in a civil conflict that devastated El Salvador, killing 75,000 people and leaving thousands more homeless or injured. Over 80 percent of the government's troops and over 20 percent of the FMLN's were under eighteen years of age; however, thus far, historians have missed the centrality of the role of children in this conflict. This article explores the legacy of both sides' reliance on child soldiers and examines the costs of child soldiering in terms of demobilization issues and postwar societal problems.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Post-Conflict Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador

Year: 2010

Gender and Attitudes Toward Justice System Bias in Central America

Citation:

Walker, Lee Demetrius. 2008. “Gender and Attitudes Toward Justice System Bias in Central America.” Latin American Research Review 43 (2): 80-106.

Author: Lee Demetrius Walker

Abstract:

What interests of Latin American women create distinctive attitudes toward justice system equality that differ from those of Latin American men? Building on recent work on general justice system bias and using 2003 Latinobarómetro data, I test this question in three Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua) using two sets of attitudes toward justice system performance (equal punishment and equal treatment), women are significantly more likely to believe that the criminal justice system provides unequal treatment before the law than are men, while women and men express the same level of belief that the justice system provides equal punishment. Evidence indicates that women connect unequal treatment to economic factors and follow a conflict model of criminal justice, which posits these attitudinal differences as a function of the group's subordinate position in society.

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Justice Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua

Year: 2008

The Gendering of Human Rights: Women and the Latin American Terrorist State

Citation:

Hollander, Nancy Caro. 1996. “The Gendering of Human Rights: Women and the Latin American Terrorist State.” Feminist Studies 22 (1): 40–80.

Author: Nancy Caro Hollander

Topics: Gender, Women, Governance, Health, Trauma, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarization, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women, Terrorism Regions: Americas, Central America, South America Countries: Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala

Year: 1996

Guerrilleras in Latin America: Domestic and International Roles

Citation:

Gonzalez-Perez, Margaret. 2006. “Guerrilleras in Latin America: Domestic and International Roles.” Journal of Peace Research 43 (3): 313–29.

Author: Margaret Gonzalez-Perez

Abstract:

This analysis identifies two different categories of guerrilla organizations and the roles of women within each. Guerrilla movements with ‘international’ agendas typically oppose US imperialism, capitalist expansion, or Western culture in general. ‘Domestic’ guerrilla organizations usually take action against perceived forces of oppression within their own nation. These different agendas have a direct impact on the role of women within them. Internationally oriented guerrilla groups assign traditional, limited gender roles to their female members, while domestic guerrilla organizations challenge domestic prohibitions, including those imposed on women, and encourage full and active participation of female members at all levels of guerrilla activity. This hypothesis is supported by comparative case studies of the groups in question. The study of women’s roles within guerrilla movements provides insight into modern political issues, such as insurgencies and other non-traditional methods of warfare. The support of half a population can enable a guerrilla organization to further its objectives considerably, and as female participation increases, the group itself gains power. Thus, an in-depth understanding of women and their relationship to guerrilla movements contributes substantially to peace and conflict studies as well as studies of non-traditional warfare.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups Regions: Americas, Caribbean countries, Central America, North America, South America Countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay

Year: 2006

Growing up in Guerrilla Camps: The Long-Term Impact of Being a Child Soldier in El Salvador’s Civil War

Citation:

Dickson-Gómez, Julia. 2002. “Growing up in Guerrilla Camps: The Long-Term Impact of Being a Child Soldier in El Salvador’s Civil War.” Ethos 30 (4): 327–56.

Author: Julia Dickson-Gómez

Abstract:

Many recent wars are characterized by high levels of civilian casualties, a large proportion of whom are women and children. Furthermore, an estimated 300,000 children are actively participating in 36 ongoing or recently ended conflicts around the world. However, there is a dearth of reseearch on the long-term effects of war trauma experienced in childhood or children's active participation in armed conflicts. This article explores the long-term effectives of children's active participation in the war in El Salvador by examining four young adults who fought with the guerrilla army as children and adolescents. Comparing these four cases with member of the community who joined and fought with the guerrilla as adults, it will be argued that traumatic experiences were even more devestating when they occurred in early childhood as they destroyed the ability to establish basic trust in competent and nurturing caretakers. Becoming a soldier created additional conflicts as these adolescent soldiers behaved in ways they felt were morally incorrect. Adolescent soldiers were also not given the opportunity to develop autonomy and learn adult peace-time roles. Both the psychological trauma suffered as children as well as continued economic scarcity and violence contribute to these campesinos' difficulties in creating meaningful lives as adults.

Topics: Age, Youth, Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Gender, Girls, Boys, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador

Year: 2002

Gendered Revolutionary Bridges: Women in the Salvadoran Resistance Movement (1979-1992)

Citation:

Shayne, Julia Denise. 1999. “Gendered Revolutionary Bridges: Women in the Salvadoran Resistance Movement (1979-1992).” Latin American Perspectives 26 (3): 85-102.

Author: Julia Denise Shayne

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador

Year: 1999

New Roles for Sandino's Daughters

Citation:

Kampwirth, Karen. 2002. “New Roles for Sandino’s Daughters.” In Women and Guerrilla Movements, 21–44. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Author: Karen Kampwirth

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups Regions: Americas, Caribbean countries, Central America Countries: Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua

Year: 2002

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