The Maya Diaspora
Guatemalan Roots, New American Lives

PB: $32.95
EAN: 978-1-56639-795-7
Publication: Oct 00
HC: $86.50
EAN: 978-1-56639-794-0
Publication: Oct 00
Ebook: $32.95
EAN: 978-1-4399-0122-9
Publication: Oct 00
248 pages
6 x 9
6 tables, 11 figs., 5 maps
How Maya refugees found new lives in strange lands
Description
Maya people have lived for thousands of years in the mountains and forests of what is now Guatemala, but they lost control of their land and became serfs and refugees when the Spanish conquered them in the sixteenth century. Under both the Spanish and the Guatemalan non-Indian elites, they suffered enforced poverty and thereby served as a resident source of cheap labor for non-Maya projects, particularly agricultural 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 a source of cheap and passive labor.
This widespread poverty was most intense in northwestern Guatemala, where 80 percent of Maya children were chronically malnourished, and forced a continuing 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. Taken together, the chapters furnish unique and ethnographically grounded perspectives on the dynamic implications of uprooting and resettlement, social and psychological adjustment, long-term prospects for continued links to a 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 are representative of many other ethnic groups, migrants, and refugees today.
Reviews
Read a review from The Journal of American Ethnic History, Winter 2002, written by Roger L. Nichols (pdf).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. The Maya Diaspora: Introduction James Loucky and Marilyn M. Moors
2. Survivors on the Move: Maya Migration in Time and Space Christopher H. Lutz and W. George Lovell
3. Flight, Exile, Repatriation, and Return: Guatemalan Refugee Scenarios, 1981-1998 Catherine L. Nolin Hanlon and W. George Lovell
4. Space and Identity in Testimonies of Displacement: Maya Migration to Guatemala City in the 1980s Antonella Fabri
5. Organizing in Exile: The Reconstruction of Community in the Guatemalan Refugee Camps of Southern Mexico Deborah L. Billings
6. Challenges of Return and Reintegration Clark Taylor
7. A Maya Voice: The Maya of Mexico City Domingo Hernández Ixcoy
8. Becoming Belizean: Maya Identity and the Politics of Nation Michael C. Stone
9. La Huerta: Transportation Hub in the Arizona Desert Nancy J. Wellmeier
10. Indiantown, Florida: The Maya Diaspora and Applied Anthropology Allan F. Burns
11. A Maya Voice: The Refugees in Indiantown, Florida Jerónimo Camposeco
12. The Maya of Morganton: Exploring Worker Identity within the Global Marketplace Leon Fink and Alvis Dunn
13. Maya Urban Villagers in Houston: The Formation of a Migrant Community from San Cristóbal Totonicanpán Nestor P. Rodríguez and Jacqueline Maria Hagan
14. A Maya Voice: Living in Vancouver Zoila Ramirez
15. Maya in a Modern Metropolis: Establishing New Lives and Livelihoods in Los Angeles James Loucky
16. Conclusion: The Maya Diaspora Experience Marilyn M. Moors
Epilogue: Elilal/Exilio Victor D. Montejo
References
About the Contributors
Index