Abstract

This article examines oral histories of Miskitu female ex-combatants of Nicaragua’s Contra War (1980-1990). The women’s biographical accounts illuminate their individual and collective motivation for participating in the conflict, their lived experience as combatants, and their continued fight in the present for recognition within the context of their community, Waspán, and within the nation-state of Nicaragua. The article is organized into overall themes discovered across the interviews with the women and include excerpts from the oral histories and interviews to illuminate each theme. The analysis is informed by the anthropological theory of “silencing” in the production of history. The women’s narratives coupled with analysis provide a collaborative argument that the Miskitu women’s indigenous/Afro-descendant ethnicity and political affiliation as Contra combatants has led to silencing and structural barriers at both the local and national level. Further, the women’s narratives challenge patriarchal views of the women’s role in war and conflict. The author concludes that the manner in which the women share their experiences of marginalization in the present-day directly confront the issue of silencing in the historical record and demonstrate resistance and agency through “voicing” their stories as indigenous/Afro-descendant females.