“TRANSITION, OPPOSITION AND ENGAGEMENT IN THE CONTEMPORARY NARRATIVES OF CENTRAL AMERICAN FEMINIST AND REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN” by Jessica Ana Maria Price A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Dissertation Committee Prof. Dr. Margrit Schreier Prof. Dr. Nicola Spakowski Prof. Dr. Silke Roth Prof. Dr. Klaus Boehnke Date of Defense: Monday May 7th, 2012 School of Humanities and Social Sciences Acknowledgements ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I began working on this research project on January 2007 and after extensive work collecting data, analyzing it and making sense of the complex and multifaceted lives of courageous former revolutionary and feminist women from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, I finally defended my thesis in May 2012. Influenced by a series of turning points in my life –of which I will only be able to make sense in retrospect- I finally find myself able to submit this document for its publication in June 2014. It has been quite a ride, and throughout the whole process, I would like to acknowledge the constant and supportive presence of my supervisor, Professor Margrit Schreier, who always believed in me, and whose eye for detail and accuracy demanded only the best in me. I am glad that after our work together, I can call Margrit both a mentor and a friend. I would also like to thank professors Nicola Spakowski and Klaus Boehnke for their support and valuable insights that contributed to the enrichment of this project. I also want to thank all the women who I interviewed, and the organizations for which they work in their respective countries. I hope that their voices truly resonate in this work. Last but not least, I would like to thank others whose interest in this field sparked my curiosity to learn more. I particularly mean Karen Kampwirth and Michael Gorkin. Last but not least, I would like to thank my husband, Marcelo Fernandez-Lahore and my parents, Milton and Ana Maria de Price, as well as friends both in Central America and Germany, such as Carolina Rodriguez-Loza, Claudia Calderon, Gloria Leal, Carin D´Souza, Ozen Odag, Angelika Von Rohden, Florence Yu and Esra Oezcan who were always by my side in little and big ways. I am forever thankful to you all! Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 1 1.1-Background of this research project 4 1.2-Focus of the Study 7 1.3- Research Design and Organization of Chapters 11 2. Revolution and Radical Leftist Activism in Central America 13 2.1- Historical Overview 13 2.1.1 The case of el Salvador 17 2.1.2-The case of Nicaragua 29 2.1.3-The case of Guatemala 38 2.1.4. Summary and Outlook 49 2.2- Feminism in Central America 54 2.2.1-The question of women as activists and the role of feminism 54 2.2.2-The feminist movement and its emergence in Latin America 60 2.2.3-Revolution and feminism in central America 63 2.2.4- Feminism in El Salvador 66 2.2.5- Feminism in Nicaragua 75 2.2.6- Feminism in Guatemala 80 2.2.7- Summary 87 2.3- Interconnectedness between revolution and feminism in CA: Rationale underlying case selection 92 2.3.1-Why these countries? 92 2.3.2-Why these women? 95 2.4- Identities in Transition 98 2.4.1- Overview of main concepts of identity formation and development 98 2.4.2- The concept of self and identity in narrative psychology 112 2.4.3- Narratives and testimonials of women’s lives 116 2.4.4-Turning points in life narratives 122 2.4.5-Trauma in life narratives of former combatants 124 2.4.6-Summary 132 2.5-Reviewing the Research Questions 135 i Table of Contents 3. Narrative Analysis of the Contemporary Narratives of Central American Radical Feminist Women 140 3.1-Introduction: Research Design 140 3.2-Introducing the Sample of Radical Feminist Women 145 3.2.1-Sampling of Feminist Organizations 145 3.2.2-Sampling of Participants 147 3.2.2.a-Selected Participants from El Salvador 149 3.2.2.b-Selected Participants from Nicaragua 152 3.2.2.c-Selected Participants from Guatemala 156 3.3-Data Collection: The “Life Story” Interview 160 3.4-Selected Methods of Narrative Analysis 170 3.4.1-Mapping of Narratives 170 3.4.2-Methods Applied to “Narratives of Change” 172 3.4.2.a-Storied Themes 174 3.4.2.a.i-Progression/Regression in Storied Themes 178 3.4.2.a.ii-Opposition/Engagement in Storied Themes 179 3.4.2.b-Life Story Chart 179 3.4.2.c-Dynamics of Plot Development 181 3.4.2.d-Semiotic Analysis: Greimas Semiotic Squares 183 3.4.2.e-Deconstruction 186 3.4.2.f-Life Story Summaries 189 3.4.3-Putting the Methods Together: A Pluralist Narrative Approach 189 . 3.5- Ethics in Narrative Research 191 4. Results from Narrative Analysis 195 4.1- Feminist Women from El Salvador 196 4.1.1-Carolina 196 4.1.2-Mireya 200 4.1.3-Sonia 204 4.1.4-Raquel 208 4.1.5-Dilsia 212 4.1.6-Sara 217 4.1.7-Summary of Findings for the Women of El Salvador 221 4.2- Feminist Women from Nicaragua 227 4.2.1-Tamara 227 4.2.2-Elina 231 4.2.3-Selma 234 4.2.4-Maribel 239 ii Table of Contents 4.2.5-Leda 243 4.2.6-Edith 247 4.2.7-Summary of Findings for the Women of Nicaragua 250 4.3-Feminist Women from Guatemala 255 4.3.1-Nelly 255 4.3.2- Leticia 259 4.3.3-Clarisa 262 4.3.4-Lilian 266 4.3.5-Odilia 269 4.3.6-Paulina 274 4.3.7-Summary of Findings for the Women of Guatemala 278 4.4- Similarities and Differences Across Countries 281 4.4.1- Similarities and differences pertaining selection criteria 281 4.4.2- Similarities and differences pertaining narrative analysis of life trajectories 284 4.5- What is learned about the experiences of revolutionary and feminist women of El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala after Narrative Analysis 289 4.5.1- The case of El Salvador 289 4.5.2- The case of Nicaragua 291 4.5.3- The case of Guatemala 293 5. Discussion and Conclusions 295 5.1-Experiences of Identity Transition and Negotiation 295 5.1.1-Identity Transition in the case of Salvadoran Women 296 5.1.1.a-Transition to War 296 5.1.1.b-Transition to a Post Revolutionary Period 301 5.1.1.c-Transition to Feminism 305 5.1.1.d-Transition during Feminism 309 5.1.2-Identity Transition in the case of Nicaraguan Women 314 5.1.2.a-Transition to War 314 5.1.2.b-Transition to a Post Revolutionary Period 318 5.1.2.c-Transition to Feminism 321 5.1.2.d-Transition during Feminism 326 5.1.3-Identity Transition in the case of Guatemalan Women 330 5.1.3.a-Transition to War 331 5.1.3.b-Transition to a Post Revolutionary Period 334 5.1.3.c-Transition to Feminism 338 5.1.3.d-Transition during Feminism 341 5.2- Placing the Contribution of this study in the light of existing literature 346 5.2.1- Points of encounter between this study and existing literature 346 iii Table of Contents 5.2.2-Contributions of this study to the existing literature 349 5.3-Conclusions 357 5.3.1-Answer to the Main Question 361 5.3.2-Answer to Subordinate Question 1 366 5.3.3-Answer to Subordinate Question 2 369 5.4-Implication of Findings 375 5.4.1-Implications for Peace Building Processes 375 5.4.2-Implications for Grassroots Feminist Organizing in Central America 377 5.4.3-Implications for Narrative Research 379 5.4.4-Implications for Future Research 382 5.5-Limitations of the Study 384 5.5.1-Critical discussion of the criteria used for the selection of participants 385 5.5.2-Issues of external validity and generalizability in Narrative Research 389 Final Words 392 References 394 Appendixes Appendix I: Methods and Methodology Materials Appendix II: Extended Narrative Analysis iv Tables and Figures Tables and Figures Tables Table 2.1: Influential Political Parties of El Salvador. Period 1930-1972. Table 2.2: Revolutionary Organizations that conformed the FMLN in 1980 Table 2.3: Gender Composition of FMLN Groups Table 2.4: Guerrilla Organizations that conformed the “Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit” in 1982 Table 2.5: Gender Composition of URNG by demobilization category, 1997. Table 2.6: Similarities and Differences concerning the Development of Second Wave Feminist Movements in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Table 2.7: Interconnectedness between Revolution and the Emergence of Second Wave Feminism in Central America: Similarities and Differences Across Countries Table 3.1: Affiliation of the Women Included in the Sample Table 3.2: Characteristics of the Sample from El Salvador Table 3.3: Characteristics of the Sample from Nicaragua Table 3.4: Characteristics of the Sample from Guatemala Table 3.5: “Life Story” Interview frame used for Pilot Interview Table 3.6: Duration of the Life Story Interview Table 4.1: Carolina’s Narratives of Change Table 4.2: Carolina’s Storied Themes Table 4.3: Mireya’s Narratives of Change Table 4.4: Mireya’s Storied Themes Table 4.5: Sonia’s Narratives of Change Table 4.6: Sonia’s Storied Themes Table 4.7: Raquel’s Narratives of Change Table 4.8: Raquel’s Storied Themes Table 4.9: Dilsia’s Narratives of Change Table 4.10: Dilsia’s Storied Themes Table 4.11: Sara’s Narratives of Change Table 4.12: Sara’s Storied Themes Table 4.13: Tamara’s Narratives of Change Table 4.14: Tamara’s Storied Themes Table 4.15: Elina’s Narratives of Change Table 4.16: Elina’s Storied Themes Table 4.17: Selma’s Narratives of Change Table 4.18: Selma’s Storied Themes Table 4.19: Maribel’s Narratives of Change Table 4.20: Maribel’s Storied Themes Table 4.21: Leda’s Narratives of Change Table 4.22: Leda’s Storied Themes Table 4.23: Edith’s Narratives of Change Table 4.24: Edith’s Storied Themes Table 4.25: Nelly’s Narratives of Change v Tables and Figures Table 4.26: Nelly’s Storied Themes Table 4.27: Leticia’s Narratives of Change Table 4.28: Leticia’s Storied