Indigenous Knowledge Stewardship in El Salvador: Tensions and Responsibilities (Poster 34)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research
  In Invited Poster Session: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research Poster Session

Abstract

The region referred to as El Salvador is a site of epistemic struggle for Indigenous people. Although only recently legally recognize (2014), Indigenous people continue to steward their knowledge to future generations. One example can be found within one Nawa-Pipil community striving to preserve the Nawat language. This work involves contending with the tension of historical memory by the state and by the people. This writing space seeks to reflect on these tensions as a researcher and community member within this language revitalization program stewarding the distinct variation of Nawat from their region in Los Izalcos, as well as Nawa cosmovision and ancestral medicine. How do we contend with mythmaking? Who is knowledge keeper? What is my/our work?

Author

• Briana Rodriguez, University of Pittsburgh