UC Santa Cruz

This dissertation explores the U.S. Central American visual art that emerged in San Francisco’s Mission District as a response to the U.S.-backed civil wars in Central America in El Salvador (1980-1992), Guatemala (1960-1996), and Nicaragua (1979-1990). This interdisciplinary project explores how the Mission neighborhood was at the forefront of cultural production against U.S. intervention in Central America during the 1980s and 1990s and established a legacy of U.S. Central American art production well into 2019. This research explores how Central American artists and other Latinx groups responded with art activism against U.S. intervention in Central America by examining oral histories, archives, posters, murals, and paintings.