Memory, Affection, and Community: Literary and Filmic Representations of Life in Central American Dumps

Abstract

The study analyzes the lives of human beings expelled from society who live in and off dumps. My interest lies in focusing on how, in the process of collecting and sorting waste, these subjects manage not only to survive, but also to blend, merge, grow, and establish close relationships; just like the objects they select and repurpose, they set in motion a process that transforms the act of separation into an act of contamination. I show this evolution through the analysis of two Central American works: Fernando Contreras’s novel Única mirando al mar (1993 and Laura Baumeister’s feature film La hija de todas las rabias (2022). From these works emerges the idea that waste—and its processing—are entities that receive care, whether because they constitute the only source of income for those inhabiting the landfill space, or because they allow, through the body, the connection of memories, affections, and the creation of community. In this transformative space, the process of dehumanization of those forced to live in and from garbage becomes blurred, just as objects lose their material connotation and, through dematerialization, enter into relation with people. Matter, environment, and body, closely interconnected, break the inside–outside dichotomy and remind us of the continuous exchange with the environment and with everything that composes it.