Mayas in Postwar Guatemala: Harvest of Violence Revisited (Contemporary American Indian Studies)

Like the original __Harvest of Violence__, published in 1988, this volume reveals how the contemporary Mayas contend with crime, political violence, internal community power struggles, and the broader impact of transnational economic and political policies in Guatemala. However, this work, informed by long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Mayan communities and commitment to conducting research in Mayan languages, places current anthropological analyses in relation to Mayan political activism and key Mayan intellectuals’ research and criticism. Illustrating specifically how Mayas in this post-war period conceive of their social and political place in Guatemala, Mayas working in factories, fields, and markets, and participating in local, community-level politics provide critiques of the government, the Maya movement, and the general state of insecurity and social and political violence that they continue to face on a daily basis. Their critical assessments and efforts to improve political, social, and economic conditions illustrate their resiliency and positive, nonviolent solutions to Guatemala’s ongoing problems that deserve serious consideration by Guatemalan and US policy makers, international non-government organizations, peace activists, and even academics studying politics, social agency, and the survival of indigenous people. **CONTRIBUTORS** Abigail E. Adams / José Oscar Barrera Nuñez / Peter Benson / Barbara Bocek / Jennifer L. Burrell / Robert M. Carmack / Monica DeHart / Edward F. Fischer / Liliana Goldín / Walter E. Little / Judith M. Maxwell / J. Jailey Philpot-Munson / Brenda Rosenbaum / Timothy J. Smith / David Stoll Like the original Harvest of Violence, published in 1988, this volume reveals how the contemporary Mayas contend with crime, political violence, internal community power struggles, and the broader impact of transnational economic and political policies in Guatemala. However, this work, informed by long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Mayan communities and commitment to conducting research in Mayan languages, places current anthropological analyses in relation to Mayan political activism and key Mayan intellectuals'research and criticism. Illustrating specifically how Mayas in this post-war period conceive of their social and political place in Guatemala, Mayas working in factories, fields, and markets, and participating in local, community-level politics provide critiques of the government, the Maya movement, and the general state of insecurity and social and political violence that they continue to face on a daily basis. Their critical assessments and efforts to improve political, social, and economic conditions illustrate their resiliency and positive, nonviolent solutions to Guatemala's ongoing problems that deserve serious consideration by Guatemalan and US policy makers, international non-government organizations, peace activists, and even academics studying politics, social agency, and the survival of indigenous people. Walter E. Little is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Albany, SUNY. Timothy J. Smith is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Appalachian State University. CONTRIBUTORS Abigail E. Adams / José Oscar Barrera Nuñez / Peter Benson / Barbara Bocek / Jennifer L. Burrell / Robert M. Carmack / Monica DeHart / Edward F. Fischer / Liliana Goldín / Walter E. Little / Judith M. Maxwell / J. Jailey Philpot-Munson / Brenda Rosenbaum / Timothy J. Smith / David Stoll

Like the original Harvest of Violence, published in 1988, this volume reveals how the contemporary Mayas contend with crime, political violence, internal community power struggles, and the broader impact of transnational economic and political policies in Guatemala. However, this work, informed by long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Mayan communities and commitment to conducting research in Mayan languages, places current anthropological analyses in relation to Mayan political activism and key Mayan intellectuals’ research and criticism. Illustrating specifically how Mayas in this post-war period conceive of their social and political place in Guatemala, Mayas working in factories, fields, and markets, and participating in local, community-level politics provide critiques of the government, the Maya movement, and the general state of insecurity and social and political violence that they continue to face on a daily basis. Their critical assessments and efforts to improve political, social, and economic conditions illustrate their resiliency and positive, nonviolent solutions to Guatemala’s ongoing problems that deserve serious consideration by Guatemalan and US policy makers, international non-government organizations, peace activists, and even academics studying politics, social agency, and the survival of indigenous people.
CONTRIBUTORS
Abigail E. Adams / José Oscar Barrera Nuñez / Peter Benson / Barbara Bocek / Jennifer L. Burrell / Robert M. Carmack / Monica DeHart / Edward F. Fischer / Liliana Goldín / Walter E. Little / Judith M. Maxwell / J. Jailey Philpot-Munson / Brenda Rosenbaum / Timothy J. Smith / David Stoll

Contents 6 List of Illustrations 8 Introduction: Revisiting Harvest of Violence in Postwar Guatemala - Walter E. Little 12 1. Democracy Is Dissent: Political Confrontations and Indigenous Mobilization in Sololá - Timothy J. Smith 27 2. Reviving Our Spirits: Revelation, Re-encuentro, and Retroceso in Post–Peace Accords Verapaz - Abigail E. Adams 41 3. Peace under Fire: Understanding Evangelical Resistance to the Peace Process in a Postwar Guatemalan Town - J. Jailey Philpot-Munson 53 4. Living and Selling in the “New Violence” of Guatemala - Walter E. Little 65 5. Everyday Violence of Exclusion: Women in Precarious Neighborhoods of Guatemala City - Liliana Goldín and Brenda Rosenbaum 78 6. Bilingual Bicultural Education: Best Intentions across a Cultural Divide - Judith M. Maxwell 95 7. Intergenerational Conflict in the Postwar Era - Jennifer L. Burrell 107 8. Desires and Imagination: The Economy of Humanitarianism in Guatemala - José Oscar Barrera Nuñez 121 9. Everyday Politics in a K’iche’ Village of Totonicapán, Guatemala - Barbara Bocek 135 10. Fried Chicken or Pop? Redefining Development and Ethnicity in Totonicapán - Monica DeHart 150 11. Neoliberal Violence: Social Suffering in Guatemala’s Postwar Era - Peter Benson and Edward F. Fischer 162 12. Harvest of Conviction: Solidarity in Guatemalan Scholarship, 1988–2008 - David Stoll 178 Conclusions - Robert M. Carmack 192 References 206 List of Contributors 224 Index 228