Conducting Fieldwork for Community Books: Las Vueltas, April-May 2025

The Las Vueltas Research Team met in Las Vueltas in late April and early May 2025 to advance the creation of a community-bsed comic and the completion of the Las Vueltas Community History Book, both focused on documenting the history of resettlement and popular organization in Las Vueltas. The team includes community organizers Heidi Calderón, Nelson Rodríguez, Marvin Alas, and Juan Carlos; Salvadoran-Canadian artist Jessica Larios; Nicaraguan-Canadian research assistant Sabrina Del Bello Guatemala; and assistant professor of Anthropology Beatriz Juárez-Rodríguez (Carleton University).

Over several days, the research team conducted in-depth interviews, creative workshops, community workshops, and planning sessions with members of the community research committee and the broader Las Vueltas community. The work centers community voices and drawing memories in documenting their own history.

The Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador research initiative is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Western University, Carleton University, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Ontario Research Fund.