Guatemala History and Context today Violence and Memory Emotion and Fieldwork 1117 and 1119 Race and Ethnicity 1124 and 121 Transnational Migration 123 and 128 Mayans First evidence of humans 12000 BCE hunters and gatherers ID: 360181
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Slide1
In Search of Providence
Guatemala: History and Context (today)
Violence and Memory, Emotion, and Fieldwork (11/17 and 11/19)
Race and Ethnicity (11/24 and 12/1)
Transnational Migration (12/3 and 12/8)Slide2Slide3
Mayans
First evidence of humans, 12,000 BCE; hunters and gatherers
Maize production by 3500 BCE
Monumental architecture by 1400 BCE (pyramids, causeways)
Height of Mayan regional empires (250-900 CE): city-states ; abandoned in 900 CE due to drought? overpopulation?
Tikal, 200-900 CESlide4
Conquest by Spain, 16th
century
introduction of Catholicism
Introduction of Spanish language
the impoverishment and forced labor of Mayans movement of Mayans into the highlands to escape conquest/control
Santa Cruz del QuichéSlide5
Post-independence (1821-)
Export-oriented agriculture (coffee, sugar, cotton): forced labor of Mayans, expropriation of land
New investment from abroad: United Fruit Company (1898-1920) exporting bananas to US and Europe; link to dictator President Cabrera
Preservation of Ladino (mestizo) hierarchy over Mayans
Loading bananas onto railcars, Honduras, 1920sSlide6
Men forced to build a road,
Ixil
Province, Guatemala, 1983. Picture by Beatriz
Manz
.Slide7
Political Turmoil and Civil War
1944: dictator Castaneda forced to resign over strikes over brutal conditions of plantation workers
New leadership (
Arévalo
and Árbenz
Guzmán) promised better workers’ rights and land reform, abolition of forced labor; landowners furious1954: Árbenz
Guzmán
overturned in military coup d’état orchestrated by CIA worried about spread of Communism in Western Hemisphere; land reform overturned
1960s: rigged elections and dictatorships with paramilitary groups; guerrillas in Mexico; US Special Forces helped train military
1978-1984: guerrillas move into Guatemala; brutal counterinsurgencySlide8
Paratroopers in a Catholic Church building,
Nebaj
, Guatemala, March 1983. (Photo courtesy of Beatriz
Manz
.)Slide9
A civil patrol (
Patrullas
de
Autodefensa
Civil, PAC), Ixil
region, Guatemala, March 1983. (Photo courtesy of Beatriz Manz.)Slide10
Effects of Civil War and Political Turmoil,
1960-1986
200,000 killed or “disappeared”
440 Indian villages burned to the ground
1 million internally displaced125,000 children orphanedMigration to Mexico and USSlide11
On the road to the
Ixil
region, Guatemala, March 1983. (Photo courtesy of Beatriz
Manz
.)Slide12
“A firm and lasting peace”
Human rights violations continued after the end of the war
1996: Peace Accords negotiated by UN, with intense brokerage by Spain and Norway. Guerrilla fighters disbanded and given land.
1998: Bishop
Gerardi assassinated after his report on human rights abuses publishedThe report found that 93% of the human rights violations made by paramilitaries; 200,000 deaths over 36 years: Mayans accounted for 83% of the victims.
Very few legal cases brought against individuals (p. 94). Army refused to cooperate in investigations unless individuals involved in massacres were not identified (p. 207).1999: President Clinton said that the US was wrong to have provided support for the Guatemalan military when it was engaged in such brutality against civilians. Slide13
Guatemala Today
14 million people: Ladino 59%, Mayan 41%
Languages: Spanish and 23 officially recognized Amerindian languages (more than 44 in use in Guatemala)
A poor country: More than half of the population is below the national poverty line, and 13% of the population lives in extreme poverty. Poverty among indigenous groups averages 73%, with 22% of the indigenous population living in extreme poverty (
Foxen
argues it is higher). Nearly one-half of Guatemala's children under age five are chronically malnourished, one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world. Distribution of income remains highly unequal: the richest 20% of the population account for more than 51% of Guatemala's overall consumption (11
th
in income inequality in the world, GINI coefficient: 50).
Xinxuc
: 7,000 residents, 70% in povertySlide14
Immigration and US Foreign Involvement
Saskia
Sassen
(sociologist at Columbia): there is a connection between US foreign involvement (both foreign investment and political alliances) and immigration flows. Interventions cause political turmoil; capital investment causes internal migration and social turmoil by developing export
agriculture or industries (factories).Her examples are Vietnam, the Philippines, Korea.1947-1989: Cold War for the US and USSR; “hot” war elsewhere. Cold War conducted by proxy.
The Caribbean, Southeast and East Asia, and Central America are good examples of this phenomenon; other countries less so.