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E-book
Author Burrell, Jennifer L

Title Maya after war : conflict, power, and politics in Guatemala / by Jennifer L. Burrell
Edition First edition
Published Austin : University of Texas Press, 2013
©2013

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Introduction -- War and la violencia in Todos Santos : accounting for the past -- Localities in conflict : spaces and the politics of mapmaking -- Histories and silences -- Reimagining fiesta : migration, culture and neoliberalism -- After lynching -- Life and death of a rural marero : generations in conflict -- Epilogue : Waiting after war
Summary Guatemala's thirty-six-year civil war culminated in peace accords in 1996, but the postwar transition has been marked by continued violence, including lynchings and the rise of gangs, as well as massive wage-labor exodus to the United States. For the Mam Maya municipality of Todos Santos Cuchumatan, inhabited by a predominantly Indigenous peasant population, the aftermath of war and genocide resonates with a long-standing tension between state techniques of governance and ancient community-level power structures that incorporated concepts of kinship, gender, and generation. Showing the ways in which these complex histories are interlinked with wartime and enduring family/class conflicts, this book provides a nuanced account of a unique transitional postwar situation, including the complex influence of neoliberal intervention. Drawing on ethnographic field research over a twenty-year period, the author explores the after-war period in a locale where community struggles span culture, identity, and history. Investigating a range of tensions from the local to the international, the author employs unique methodologies, including mapmaking, history workshops, and an informal translation of a historic ethnography, to analyze the role of conflict in animating what matters to Todosanteros in their everyday lives and how the residents negotiate power. Examining the community-based divisions alongside national postwar contexts, this book considers the aura of hope that surrounded the signing of the peace accords, and the subsequent doubt and waiting that have fueled unrest, encompassing generational conflicts. This study is an analysis of the multifaceted forces at work in the quest for peace, in Guatemala and beyond
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Mayas -- Crimes against -- Guatemala
Mayas -- Violence against -- Guatemala
Social conflict -- Guatemala
Ethnic conflict -- Guatemala
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Discrimination & Race Relations.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Ethnic Studies -- General.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Minority Studies.
Ethnic conflict
Ethnic relations
Politics and government
Race relations
Social conflict
SUBJECT Guatemala -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85057648
Guatemala -- Race relations
Guatemala -- Ethnic relations
Subject Guatemala
Form Electronic book
ISBN 0292753756
9780292753754