Author Mario Bencastro Visits College Class

By Patrick Scallen

On October 16, 2025, esteemed Salvadoran author Mario Bencastro paid a virtual visit to my class "Latino Communities in Metropolitan Washington, DC," at the University of California's Washington, D.C. campus (UCDC) campus as part of Teach Central America Week. In preparation, UCDC students had read Odisea del norte / Odyssey to the North (either the Spanish version or the English version), Bencastro's acclaimed novel that follows several Salvadorans as they make the arduous journey through Central America and Mexico to the United States in the context of the Central American civil wars in the 1980s and examines how they navigate the realities of their new lives in Washington, D.C.

The lively discussion revolved around the many concepts engaged by the novel, including but not limited to Latinx cultural identity and heritage, assimilation and belonging, gender stereotypes and expectations, the trials and tribulations of the immigrant journey, and the role of memory in trauma.

Students expressed gratitude for Bencastro's visit and praised the novel, which they argued was still as relevant today as it was when it was published over two decades ago. Having grown up in California, they said that learning about Salvadoran migration to the DMV provided essential context for understanding the nature of Latinx communities today and served as a valuable counterbalance to the rich history of Mexicans and Mexican Americans on the West Coast.

Students left the discussion with a more intimate and nuanced perspective on transnational migration, memory, and the tensions inherent in navigating new lives in foreign spaces.