On Unstable Ground is the story of the two years I spent trying to understand and navigate El Salvador—both as a place and a history. This is not, however, a memoir, per se. Rather, it is a history told through personal narrative. Each essay-chapter revolves around a particular experience that I had living in that country—a point of contact or clash—that magnified an important aspect of El Salvadors character. Cumulatively, the essays piece together the story of a geographic journey as well as an exploration of history, a second journey that garners an evolving understanding of the events and circumstances that have shaped the nature of that place.'
","abstract_html":"<p>On Unstable Ground is the story of the two years I spent trying to understand and navigate El Salvador—both as a place and a history. This is not, however, a memoir, per se. Rather, it is a history told through personal narrative. Each essay-chapter revolves around a particular experience that I had living in that country—a point of contact or clash—that magnified an important aspect of El Salvadors character. Cumulatively, the essays piece together the story of a geographic journey as well as an exploration of history, a second journey that garners an evolving understanding of the events and circumstances that have shaped the nature of that place.'</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Beer, Molly"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MFA Creative Writing","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Martin, Gregory","Harrison, Gary","Sundeen, Mark","Thiel, Diane"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-08-17T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2011-08-17T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:27:31Z","subjects":["El Salvador","Essay--Authorship","American essays--21st century","English Language and Literature"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/engl_etds/53"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/engl_etds/53","href":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/engl_etds/53","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1928/12987","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Martin, Gregory","Harrison, Gary","Sundeen, Mark","Thiel, Diane"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Beer, Molly"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2099-07-31T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters","Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MFA Creative Writing"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["El Salvador","Essay--Authorship","American essays--21st century","English Language and Literature"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1928/12987","https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/engl_etds/53"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["On Unstable Ground is the story of the two years I spent trying to understand and navigate El Salvador—both as a place and a history. This is not, however, a memoir, per se. Rather, it is a history told through personal narrative. Each essay-chapter revolves around a particular experience that I had living in that country—a point of contact or clash—that magnified an important aspect of El Salvadors character. Cumulatively, the essays piece together the story of a geographic journey as well as an exploration of history, a second journey that garners an evolving understanding of the events and circumstances that have shaped the nature of that place.'
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