Crisis of Governance in Maya Guatemala

Crisis of Governance in Maya Guatemala
Author :
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages : 320
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780806188935
ISBN-13 : 0806188936
Rating : 4/5 (936 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Crisis of Governance in Maya Guatemala by : John P. Hawkins

Download or read book Crisis of Governance in Maya Guatemala written by John P. Hawkins and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2013-03-21 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The possibility of violence beneath a thin veneer of civil society is a fact of daily life for twenty-first-century Guatemalans, from field laborers to the president of the country. Crisis of Governance in Maya Guatemala explores the causes and consequences of governmental failure by focusing on life in two K’iche’ Maya communities in the country’s western highlands. The contributors to this volume, who lived among the villagers for some time, include both undergraduate students and distinguished scholars. They describe the ways Mayas struggle to survive and make sense of their lives, both within their communities and in relation to the politico-economic institutions of the nation and the world. Since Guatemala’s thirty-six-year civil war ended in 1996, the state has been dysfunctional, the country’s economy precarious, and physical safety uncertain. The intrusion of Mexican cartels led the U.S. State Department to declare Guatemala “the epicenter of the drug threat” in Central America. Rapid cultural change, weak state governance, organized crime, pervasive corruption, and ethnic exclusion provide the backdrop for the studies in this volume. Seven nuanced ethnographies collected here reveal the complexities of indigenous life and describe physical and cultural conflicts within and between villages, between insiders and outsiders, and between local and federal governments. Many of these essays point to a tragic irony:the communities seem largely forgotten by the government until the state seeks to capture their resources—timber, minerals, votes. Other chapters portray villages responding to criminal activity through lynch mobs and by labeling nonconformist youth as gang members. In focusing on the internal dynamics of poor, marginal communities in Guatemala, this book explores the realities of life for indigenous people on all continents who are faced with the social changes brought about by war and globalization.


Crisis of Governance in Maya Guatemala Related Books

Crisis of Governance in Maya Guatemala
Language: en
Pages: 320
Authors: John P. Hawkins
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-03-21 - Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The possibility of violence beneath a thin veneer of civil society is a fact of daily life for twenty-first-century Guatemalans, from field laborers to the pres
Religious Transformation in Maya Guatemala
Language: en
Pages: 408
Authors: John P. Hawkins
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-05-01 - Publisher: University of New Mexico Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Mayas, and indeed all Guatemalans, are currently experiencing the collapse of their way of life. This collapse is disrupting ideologies, symbols, life practices
Making a Place for the Future in Maya Guatemala
Language: en
Pages: 321
Authors: John P. Hawkins
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2024-10-15 - Publisher: University of New Mexico Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch pounded the isolated village of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán in mountainous western Guatemala, destroying many homes. The experience trau
Incarcerated Stories
Language: en
Pages: 177
Authors: Shannon Speed
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-08-27 - Publisher: UNC Press Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Indigenous women migrants from Central America and Mexico face harrowing experiences of violence before, during, and after their migration to the United States,
Harvest of Violence
Language: en
Pages: 334
Authors: Robert M. Carmack
Categories: Guatemala
Type: BOOK - Published: 1988 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

On the effects of the ongoing civil war in Guatemala.