| Publication |
2008.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Massive emigration and transnational realities affect postwar El Salvador. While the civil war (1980-1992) displaced vast numbers of people, the steady flow of citizens out of national territory continues today. As emigrants who remain connected to El Salvador demonstrate their increased economic and political capital, the government of El Salvador, elites, and media respond by re-shaping ideas about the nation and national belonging. This article describes how emigrants and their descendants are being administratively and symbolically re-incorporated into the postwar national imagination. "Symbolic politics" is how scholars describe sending-state practices to strengthen emigrant ties to the original homeland. Typically, the reference is to practices that export fixed ideas about the nation and national identity. This essay shows instead how emigration affects "symbolic politics" by transforming the very idea of the nation, its people, and its boundaries. Further, I posit that new state, media, and elite practices contribute to the simultaneity of incorporation that influences transnational belonging
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