Guatemala, the Question of
Genocide
In Guatemala, it was called the trial of the century: the 2013 prosecution of former de facto head of state (19821983) General Jos Efran Ros Montt and his intelligence chief, General Jos Mauricio Rodrguez Snchez, on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Maya-Ixil people. Ros Montts seventeen-month reign was one of the bloodiest periods in Guatemalas history, with scorched earth massacres, the destruction of hundreds of Maya communities, and militarized resettlement of Mayas into model villages. Ros Montt was convicted on all charges. Ten days later, a higher court vacated the verdict on dubious procedural grounds. Nevertheless, Guatemalas genocide trial, held in the domestic courts in the country where the crimes were committed, was precedent-setting.
In this volume, Guatemalan and international scholars rigorously explore the complexities of the Guatemala experience and reflect upon the cases implications for understanding and prosecuting the category of genocide more broadly. Topics include: the nexus of racism and counterinsurgency in explaining Guatemalas genocide; the politics of Maya collective memory; the intersections of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity in genocide; the decades-long interconnections of national and transnational justice processes that brought the case to trial; and the limits and contributions of tribunal justice.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Genocide Research.
Elizabeth Oglesby is Associate Professor of Latin American Studies and Geography at the University of Arizona, USA. She has worked in Guatemala since 1986 and is co-editor of The Guatemala Reader: History, Culture, Politics (2011). In 2013, she testified as an expert witness in the Guatemala genocide trial.
Diane M. Nelson is Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University, USA, and has worked in Guatemala since 1985. Her books include Who Counts: The Mathematics of Death and Life After Genocide (2016), War By Other Means: Aftermath in Post-Genocide Guatemala (2013, co-editor with Carlota McAllister), Reckoning: The Ends of War in Guatemala (2009), and A Finger in the Wound: Body Politics in Quincentennial Guatemala (1999).
Guatemala, the Question of
Genocide
Edited by
Elizabeth Oglesby and Diane M. Nelson
First published 2018
by Routledge
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Contents
Citation Information
The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016). When citing this material, please use the original page numbering for each article, as follows:
Chapter 1
Introduction: Guatemalas genocide trial and the nexus of racism and counterinsurgency
Elizabeth Oglesby and Diane M. Nelson
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 133142
Chapter 2
From heaven to hell in ten days: the genocide trial in Guatemala
Jo-Marie Burt
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 143170
Chapter 3
Bonesetting: the algebra of genocide
Diane M. Nelson
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 171188
Chapter 4
International accompaniment, reflexivity and the intelligibility of power in post-conflict Guatemala
Etienne Roy Grgoire and Karen Hamilton
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 189206
Chapter 5
Surviving in the margins of a genocide case in the making: recognizing the economy of testimony at stake in research on political violence
Karine Vanthuyne and Ricardo Falla
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 207224
Chapter 6
Perpetrators: specialization, willingness, group pressure and incentives. Lessons from the Guatemalan acts of genocide
Manolo E. Vela Castaeda
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 225244
Chapter 7
Our ongoing fight for justice: the pasts and futures of genocidio and justicia in Guatemala
Heather A. Vrana
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 245264
Chapter 8
Carrying a heavy load: Mayan womens understandings of reparation in the aftermath of genocide
Alison Crosby, M. Brinton Lykes and Brisna Caxaj
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 265284
Chapter 9
Peace without social reconciliation? Understanding the trial of Generals Ros Montt and Rodriguez Snchez in the wake of Guatemalas genocide
Roddy Brett
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 285304
Chapter 10
The realities of power: David Stoll and the story of the 1982 Guatemalan genocide
Marc Drouin
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 305322
Chapter 11
The reconciliation trap: disputing genocide and the land issue in postwar Guatemala
Berthold Molden
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 323342
Chapter 12
Waging peace: a new generation of Ixiles confronts the debts of war in Guatemala
Krisjon Olson
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 343360
Chapter 13
The Ros Montt case and universal jurisdiction
Amy Ross
Journal of Genocide Research, volume 18, issue 23 (JuneSeptember 2016), pp. 361376
