Ebook254 pages5 hours
Maya Diaspora: Guatemalan Roots, New American Lives
By James Loucky
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
Maya people have lived for thousands of years in the mountains and forests of Guatemala, but they lost control of their land, becoming serfs and refugees, when the Spanish invaded in the sixteenth century. Under the Spanish and the Guatemalan non-Indian elites, they suffered enforced poverty as a resident source of cheap labor for non-Maya projects, particularly agriculture production. Following the CIA-induced coup that toppled Guatemala's elected government in 1954, their misery was exacerbated by government accommodation to United States "interests," which promoted crops for export and reinforced the need for cheap and passive labor.
This widespread poverty was endemic throughout northwestern Guatemala, where 80 percent of Maya children were chronically malnourished, and forced wide-scale migration to the Pacific coast. The self-help aid that flowed into the area in the 1960s and 1970s raised hopes for justice and equity that were brutally suppressed by Guatemala's military government. This military reprisal led to a massive diaspora of Maya throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America.
This collection describes that process and the results. The chapters show the dangers and problems of the migratory/refugee process and the range of creative cultural adaptations that the Maya have developed. It provides the first comparative view of the formation and transformation of this new and expanding transnational population, presented from the standpoint of the migrants themselves as well as from a societal and international perspective. Together, the chapters furnish ethnographically grounded perspectives on the dynamic implications of uprooting and resettlement, social and psychological adjustment, long-term prospects for continued links to migration history from Guatemala, and the development of a sense of co-ethnicity with other indigenous people of Maya descent. As the Maya struggle to find their place in a more global society, their stories of quiet courage epitomize those of many other ethnic groups, migrants, and refugees today.
This widespread poverty was endemic throughout northwestern Guatemala, where 80 percent of Maya children were chronically malnourished, and forced wide-scale migration to the Pacific coast. The self-help aid that flowed into the area in the 1960s and 1970s raised hopes for justice and equity that were brutally suppressed by Guatemala's military government. This military reprisal led to a massive diaspora of Maya throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America.
This collection describes that process and the results. The chapters show the dangers and problems of the migratory/refugee process and the range of creative cultural adaptations that the Maya have developed. It provides the first comparative view of the formation and transformation of this new and expanding transnational population, presented from the standpoint of the migrants themselves as well as from a societal and international perspective. Together, the chapters furnish ethnographically grounded perspectives on the dynamic implications of uprooting and resettlement, social and psychological adjustment, long-term prospects for continued links to migration history from Guatemala, and the development of a sense of co-ethnicity with other indigenous people of Maya descent. As the Maya struggle to find their place in a more global society, their stories of quiet courage epitomize those of many other ethnic groups, migrants, and refugees today.
Related to Maya Diaspora
Related ebooks
Trouble of the World: Slavery and Empire in the Age of Capital Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn 1619 Nobody was "White" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPride and Produce: The Origin, Evolution, and Survival of the Drowned Lands, the Hudson Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegalizing Identities: Becoming Black or Indian in Brazil’s Northeast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Navigators of the 18th Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaudonniere & Fort Caroline: History and Documents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Settlement of Illinois, 1778-1830 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Not-So-New World: Empire and Environment in French Colonial North America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRace and Retail: Consumption across the Color Line Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFour Square Leagues: Pueblo Indian Land in New Mexico Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of the Conquest of Peru Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDrawing by Stealth: John Trumbull and the Creek Indians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOdyssey of the Pueblo Indians: An Introduction to Pueblo Indian Petroglyphs, Pictographs, and Kiva Art Murals in the Southwest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUruguay: Geographical Curiosities, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Indian as Slaveholder and Seccessionist: An Omitted Chapter in the Diplomatic History of the Southern Confederacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConnecting with My African Roots Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDocuments of the Coronado Expedition, 1539–1542: "They Were Not Familiar with His Majesty, nor Did They Wish to Be His Subjects" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Green Revolution in the Global South: Science, Politics, and Unintended Consequences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPaper Sovereigns: Anglo-Native Treaties and the Law of Nations, 164-1664 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Georgetown's North Island: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Haiti and the Uses of America: Post-U.S. Occupation Promises Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Environmental Justice in New Mexico: Counting Coup Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Freedmen's Savings Bank: A Chapter in the Economic History of the Negro Race Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStories of South America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Salish People: Volume III: The Mainland Halkomaelem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAtlanta Greeks: An Early History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaroons in Guyane: Past, Present, Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrican Americans in the Post-Emancipation South: The Outsiders' View Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRivers of Gold, Lives of Bondage: Governing through Slavery in Colonial Quito Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Social Science For You
Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Men Explain Things to Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slaves in the Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Close Encounters with Addiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Maya Diaspora
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Maya Diaspora - James Loucky
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1