My Mother, The Painter: Storytelling in Central American Studies

Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration (REI) Colloquium
My mother, the painter: Storytelling in Central American Studies
Leisy J. Abrego, Professor and Chair in the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, UCLA
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Central American Studies is a budding field in the United States where increasingly, members of the diaspora are using research to better understand the experiences of war, migration, denial of refugee status, denial of legal protections, and identity development. As a Central American Studies scholar and teacher of qualitative research methods, I am interested in ethical forms of research with communities made vulnerable and harmed by the state. Should we engage people in conversations about painful and traumatizing experiences? And if we do, who is the audience for those projects? What are some ways to honor them and their stories? In this talk, I will share the story of an interview I conducted with my mother, Margoth Abrego. Although the initial goal of the exchange was to focus solely on her art, the meandering conversation ultimately included her recollection of patriarchal violence, war trauma, and state-sponsored violence – details that provide context for understanding her creative process, artistic themes, and joy. Storytelling produced through such conversations is one possibility for engaging survivors of state violence, honoring their experiences holistically, and highlighting their agency in intimate ways.