“We don’t talk about Trauma”: El Salvadorians and Community Trauma

ABSTRACT

This article draws upon data from a Canadian study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The focus was on how trauma has been experienced by three communities who have been historically marginalized: The El Salvadorian community, Indigenous peoples and those identifying as 2STLGBQIA+. The focus of this article is on the Salvadorian diaspora in Canada, which has the shared experience of historical colonial trauma; on-going coloniality leading to civil war; and poverty, leading to forcible displacement. The latter resulted in re-negotiating their lives in the diaspora and transnationally in El Salvador. As with Indigenous and 2STLGBQIA+ communities, Salvadorians in Canada share experiences of multiple oppressions and marginalization based, in part, on perceptions of belonging and worth, rooted in racism. Exploring notions of community development as it exists in diaspora communities must include a history of war, resettlement and marginalization that contribute to trauma at the community level.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work
• Canada
• marginalized communities
• migration
• community trauma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The term the Global North refers to the nation-states and their members that are the beneficiaries of globalization, typically defined by the World Bank as middle to high-income countries. It references those that have historically benefited from colonialism and neo-imperialism, moving beyond spatial boundaries and acknowledging transnational relations (Mahler, 2018).

2. A colloquial expression to denote being done with it or having an aversion to community organizing or political activities due to negative consequences.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada