Journeys of Fear: Refugee Return and National Transformation in Guatemala - Hardcover

North, Liisa L.; Simmons, Alan B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773518614 ISBN 13: 9780773518612

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Edited and with contributions by Liisa North and Alan Simmons, this collection explores the participation of the oppressed and marginalised Guatemalan refugees, most of them indigenous Mayas who fled from the army's razed-earth campaign of the early 1980s, in government negotiations regarding the conditions for return. The essays adopt the refugees' language concerning return - defining it as a self-organized and participatory collective act that is very different from repatriation, a passive process often organized by others with the objective of reintegration into the status quo. Contributors examine the extent to which the organized returnees and other social organizations with similar objectives have been successful in transforming Guatemalan society, creating greater respect for political, social, and economic rights. They also consider the obstacles to democratization in a country just emerging from a history of oppressive dictatorships and a thirty-six-year-long civil war. Contributors include Stephen Baranyi (IDRC), Catherine Blacklock (Queen's University), Manuel-Angel Castillo (Colegio de Mexico), Alison Crosby (Consejeria en Proyectos), Gonzalo de Villa (Universidad Rafael Landivar), Brian Egan (Independent Consultant), Marco Fonseca (York University), Gisela Geliert (FLACSO-Guatemala), Jim Gronau (Coordinación de ONG y Cooperativas), Barry Levitt (University of North Carolina), George Lovell (Queen's University), Catherine Nolan-Hanlon (Queen-s University), Liisa North, Viviana Patroni (Wilfrid Laurier University), René Potvin (FLACSO-Guatemala), Alan Simmons, and Gabriela Torres (York University).

About this title

About the Author:

North is Professor of political science and a fellow of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean at York University.

York University

About this edition

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0773518614
• ISBN 13: 9780773518612
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368