“Guatemalan Colonial State, Forced Migration and Maya Resistance to Turtle Island”

• In Event: Deviant Immigrant Legacies: Tactics against Fear

Abstract

This presentation critically examines Indigenous Maya migrations from Guatemala to the United States, and the interconnections that exist between settler colonial and US imperialist policies in Maya forced displacement. It aims to challenge the ways Indigenous migrants have been depicted as "deviant" by the US government, and by dominant media outlets. First, I discuss how the root causes of Indigenous migration relate to the Guatemalan internal armed conflict, particularly the years 1978-1984 when forced displacement to the U.S. exacerbated; then, I focus on the neoliberal economic extractivist policies adopted by the Guatemalan state after the war formally ended in 1996, its impact on the environment and consequently, our forced displacement. Finally, I discuss the challenges and potentialities of the Maya experience in the U.S. For example, the fact that we struggle against another settler colonial state while at the same time developing strategies of resistance, new ways to dignify our Maya identities and networks with other indigenous nations from Turtle Island.

Author

• Emil’ Keme, Emory University