By Elizabeth Faragi
University of Maryland Spanish and Portuguese associate professor Ana Patricia Rodríguez spoke to the UMD community on Wednesday about her new book, which explores Salvadoran life through the work of various artists in the DMV area.
Rodríguez spoke to UMD students, faculty and former students about her new book, “Avocado Dreams: Remaking Salvadorian Life and Art in the Washington, D.C., Metro Area,” which was released in November 2025.
The event featured a detailed explanation of Rodríguez’s research, as well as commentary from faculty and a Q&A with the audience.
Rodríguez’s exploration focuses on how Salvadoran artists throughout the DMV area tell their stories and use their voices through their art. She also uses the avocado as a metaphor throughout the book.
“I’ve found that in some of the literature that I’m looking at,” Rodríguez said, “this metaphor of the avocado surfaces as this metaphor for diaspora.”
Diaspora refers to the dispersion or spread of people from their original homeland. Rodríguez refers to diaspora as the spread of Salvadoran people throughout the U.S.
Rodríguez has been working on this project since 2005, but said that she has been truly working on it since she first arrived in the DMV in 1998.
“[The book] focuses on the stories and the artmaking that Salvadorians in the D.C. area, the DMV, are making to tell their own stories of how they arrived here, where they came from and also how they’ve negotiated and made space for themselves in this area,” Rodríguez said.
Rodríguez said part of this book’s objective is to engage with the Salvadoran community in the metropolitan area and learn about the diaspora formation in this location.
Most of her research came from observing the work Salvadoran artists were creating, as well as building her own relationships with them. Rodríguez worked with authors, artists, musicians, poets and performers in the area to learn how they told their Salvadoran stories.
“I look at El Salvador through the literature, through some poetry, in relation to other groups and areas,” Rodríguez said. “We were able to gather the art of these artists of the diaspora throughout the region.”
Rodríguez is interested in the representation of Salvadorans through language and how they are racialized through language. She was curious about how other communities spoke of Salvadorans, but more specifically, she was curious about how Salvadorans spoke of themselves.
“I’m particularly interested in the language that Salvadorians use to identify ourselves,” Rodríguez said. “Some of the language is kind of … a negative term, right? But what I’m trying to propose is that we need to resignify these terms, right, in order to recognize our social positioning in society.”
In her book, Rodríguez argues that these artists are working with the Salvadoran language and redefining it through their work.
She uses work by the Washington, D.C., poet and performer Quique Avilés, musician Lilo Gonzalez, author and painter Mario Bencastro and other local artists in the Washington, D.C., area to explore Salvadoran life.
Jasmin Pineda, a doctoral student in American studies at this university, said felt impacted by this book.
“I was very touched and inspired by this book,” Pineda said. “Dr. Rodríguez, in her own words, sheds light on how Salvadorians remake themselves and mark their presence in the DMV through literature, storytelling and cultural productions.”
Nancy Mirabal, an associate professor of American studies at this university, was touched by the work of Rodríguez, who is her close friend.
“If you know her, you’ll know this is true,” Mirabal said. “As she loves and cherishes, she also critiques, challenges and demands better … Rodríguez straddles those lines seamlessly. We learn how literature, poetry, music, art and film are critical from what she calls Central American and Salvadorian world-making. She begins where most good stories begin.”
Rodríguez emphasized the importance of the Salvadoran community, not only in the DMV but around the world, through her research.
“I firmly believe that our community here in the DMV is highly neglected, highly undervalued, discriminated, all sorts of things,” Rodríguez said. “So what I want to do is give value to this community and recognize the value … Salvadorians have a worth, you may not see it, but you have to see us.”
Featured Image: Professor Ana Patricia Rodríguez speaks in Tawes Hall on April 8. Photo by Josh Hananel.