BY AÍDA HERNÁNDEZ CASTILLO Leer en español Mexico is engulfed in a human rights crisis. The current atmosphere of violence and impunity implies new challenges for social anthropology and, more specifically, legal anthropology. Long-term fieldwork in regions affected by violence involves … [Read more...] about Mexico in Times of Violence and Impunity: Legal and Forensic Anthropology in Support of Human Rights
Indigenous Issues
Rethinking Maya Studies: A Conversation with Ruud van Akkeren
BY SUSANNA SHARPE It is hard not to feel moved when talking to Ruud van Akkeren about his research. In such a conversation, it quickly becomes clear that Van Akkeren has his own nuanced, and possibly revolutionary, way of understanding Maya past and present in Guatemala, and that he doesn’t … [Read more...] about Rethinking Maya Studies: A Conversation with Ruud van Akkeren
Struggles and Obstacles in Indigenous Women’s Fight for Justice in Guatemala
BY IRMA ALICIA VELÁSQUEZ NIMATUJ Transitional justice refers to measures both judicial and non-judicial that are intended to redress large-scale human rights abuses. In this article, I focus on two recent cases of transitional justice in Guatemala. The first is the 2013 trial against General and … [Read more...] about Struggles and Obstacles in Indigenous Women’s Fight for Justice in Guatemala
LLILAS Benson and the Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Patrimony of Mexico
BY KELLY McDONOUGH One of the main attractions among the rare books and manuscripts at the Benson Latin American Collection is a group of late-sixteenth-century manuscripts and maps known as the Relaciones Geográficas (or RGs for short). As described in the Benson’s web portal to the RGs, these … [Read more...] about LLILAS Benson and the Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Patrimony of Mexico
Masculinity and Gender in Kaqchikel Sololá, Guatemala
BY RIGOBERTO AJCALÓN CHOY “The law is giving many freedoms to women,” notes an interviewee with some dismay when I ask him about the current status of indigenous women in the rural Guatemalan town of Kaqchikel Sololá. This response exemplifies men’s reactions to the slow but steady pace at which … [Read more...] about Masculinity and Gender in Kaqchikel Sololá, Guatemala
