Belonging through Cultural Expression
This website grew out of the curiosity and appreciation of four Yale students who care deeply about Central American cultural expression. In Fall 2025, we took the course “Central Americans in the United States” with Profe Hidalgo and Katy Maldonado Dominguez. Wanting to understand how Central American identity and belonging take shape across the diaspora, we designed a research and interview project that looked at everything from Punta Rock on the East Coast to Freestyle Rap on the West Coast. This work was in collaboration with Teach Central America, emphasizing an Ethnic Studies Pedagogical Approach to learning. This website includes resources, works cited, interviews, and an accompanying lesson plan for individuals to openly use. Our attended audience is curated to older elementary to younger middle school United States students.
This project aims to illustrate how identity and belonging appear in the Freestyle Rap of Salvadorans in Los Angeles and in the experiences of Central American community members at Yale in New Haven. Freestyle Rap and Punta Rock are founded in the rich culture of historically marginalized identity, and each has created spaces of belonging for Central Americans in the diaspora. Freestyle Rap is deeply influenced by Black communities, while Punta Rock comes from the Afro-Indigenous Garifuna people. By highlighting these two forms of cultural expression, our project challenges dominant narratives (mestizaje) that erase Black and Indigenous presence in Central America.
Lesli Muñoz Perez is a first generation Mexican American student at Yale. She is majoring in History of Medicine and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. The arts especially dance performance has been a constant throughout her life. Now that she is at Yale she has begun to explore dance as a form of cultural expression and she is very enthusiastic about sharing it with the broader university community.
Nahomy Reyes Mejia is a first generation Honduran American student at Yale University. She intends to major in Architecture. Dancing various styles since the age of 5, she is passionate about the arts and its connection to her own culture.
Jocelyn Perez is a first generation Mexican American student at Yale University, majoring in Ethnicity, Race and Migration. She is proud of her Mexican and Angelino roots and is excited to almost finish her time at Yale after a long journey.
Yair Guijosa-Torres is a first-generation low-income non-binary Mexican American student at Yale University, majoring in Ethnic Studies. Growing up, Yair found immense joy in the love their Mexican-American expressed through dance. They believe that indulging and sharing this pleasure is integral to shaping loving communities.