UC Irvine

This essay analyzes the ways that El Salvador as a site of origin is configured in relation to Salvadoran migrants in the U.S. The post-war Salvadoran government, well aware of the economic benefits of the more than 2.5 billion dollars that emigres send to relatives annually, depicted El Salvador as an object of longing, as a parent to which emigres owe continued loyalty. Interviews with Salvadoran emigres who have lived the bulk of their lives in the U.S. suggest a relationship that is more complex than depictions of longing and loyalty would imply. To them, El Salvador is less a parent to whom they owe loyalty and more a somewhat unknown but key element of their own biographies. These understandings of diaspora are used to develop the notion of re/membered communities as an alternative to Benedict Anderson's concept of "imagined communities." Recent shifts in Salvadoran government policies toward Salvadorans in the U.S. are also considered. © 2010 The Institute, Inc.