Central American Counterpoetics

Book excerpt: Connecting past and present, this book proposes the concepts of rememory (rememoria) and counterpoetics as decolonial tools for studying the art, popular culture, literature, music, and healing practices of Central America and the diaspora in the United States. Building on the theory of rememory articulated in Toni Morrison's Beloved, the volume examines the concept as an embodied experience of a sensory place and time lived in the here and now. By employing a wide array of sources, Alma's research breaks ground in subject matter and methods, considering cultural and historical ties across countries, regions, and traditions while offering critical perspectives on topics such as immigration, forced assimilation, maternal love, gender violence, community arts, and decolonization.