Landscapes of Struggle: Politics, Society, and Community in El Salvador

The new rurality: Globalization, peasants and the paradoxes of landscapes

“…El Salvador's rampant clearing and political instability, driven largely by the expansion of large scale agro-industries, cattle, and small scale producers pushed ever higher into the mountains was often viewed as emblematic of the noxious interactions between people and ecologies (Landau, 1993;Lauria-Santiago and Binford, 2004). During the 1980s, like most of Central America, El Salvador was embroiled in civil conflict that lasted from 1980 to 1992.…”

“…War and out migration interacted with several other policies and political ecologies: El Salvador's Peace Accords (1992) altered the role of agriculture and natural resources in the national economy as neoliberal policies were implemented emphasizing market rather state led forms of development, trade liberalization for food imports and sharply limited credit to rural areas, all of which undermined the markets, economic support and returns for small farmers (Barkin, 2002;Lauria-Santiago and Binford, 2004). The real returns to agriculture by 2000 had contracted to 27% of its value in 1970, causing a strong disincentive to produce, and making the cost of production for most crops exceed the profits that could be gained from them.…”

Relieving Isolation, Avoiding Vices: The Social Purposes of Participation in A Salvadoran Literacy Program

“…Life in both villages exemplified what the writer Manlio Argueta (2001) has called Salvadorans' "creativity for survival" in dire circumstances. Structural adjustment policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have exacerbated poverty, contributing to the highest migration rate in Latin America (Lauria-Santiago & Binford, 2004) and the disruption of family and social networks. Poverty, coupled with geographic and gender disparities, has produced high rural illiteracy rates (36% for women, 18% for men; Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, 2001).…”