Abstract

RODRIGUEZ-HERRERA, América. Water and ethnic identity in Izalco, República de El Salvador. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2007, vol.4, n.2, pp.83-103. ISSN 1870-5472.

In El Salvador, the project for mixing races (mestizaje) which was driven since the end of the 19^th Century and was concentrated on a policy that sought to exterminate indigenous people, physically as well as culturally, had its culminating point with the massacre of the rebel indigenous population in 1932. However, in order to sustain and legitimize the process of mixing races, the State built some bridges that provided limited spaces, but which were taken advantage of by indigenous people, to reproduce their culture. Such was the case of Izalco, in the southwestern region of the country. This population had a history of autonomy thanks to its fertile irrigation lands; the Liberal Reform at the end of the 19^th Century took the lands away from them, but not their consuetudinary water rights, so that water continued to be the basis of their organization and culture. But the indigenous groups lost these rights to water in the years after the rebellion, and although they continued reproducing their culture, it had lost unity and above all its organizational capacity, so that with the advance of modernity the organization tended to be drastically weakened. Currently, among the indigenous groups of Izalco, there have been efforts to recuperate their identity and historical memory, but they are not clear as to what it means to be indigenous, they seek for answers in culture, but even if it is true that historically this legacy is found in culture, it is more firmly rooted in politics, which is why, in order to reinterpret their legacy and respond to their questions about identity, they would have to negotiate a new political relationship with the State.

Keywords : Historical memory; mixed races; work reform.

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