Nationalism, Memory, Violence and Political Struggle It takes at least two somethings to create a difference. (…) Clearly each alone is—for the mind and perception—a non-entity, a non-being. Not different from being, and not different from non-being. An unknowwable… (Bateson 1978: 78).

Why the violence?

The emergence and relevance of ethnicity Social encounters and interactions Coping with demands and challenges of life Sociologist David Riesman, 1953

Working definition Ethnicity is an aspect of social relationship between agents who consider themselves as being culturally disctinctive from members of other groups with whom they have a minimun of regular interaction: identified also as a social identity.

What is collective identity? National identity is to be understood as a particular kind of collective identity constructed within a defined ‘social space.

Nationalism Nation: any community of people who see themselves as an ethnic and culturally (linguistically) unit, in contrast to other groups of people surrounding them but nationalism can also be intimately linked to the organisation of industrial capitalism and the formation of economic elites

How can we explain the violence in Guatemala? 200, 000 dead, one million displaced, 440 Mayan villages burned Roots in policies of inclusion and exclusion Internal hierarchies, divisions

Does internal divisions among the Mayan explain state terror?

Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP)

Why Little political price to pay Historical neglect Viewed as a natural enemy

Did Guatemala’s ethnic divisions facilitate political violence?. One part of the population against another Upward mobility for young Indians

Army strategy: Ineffectiveness of selective killing Mass violence: product of effectiveness and ignorance easiest way to fight guerrillas

Rationale "These people [the guerrillas] are difficult to distinguish from most of the rest of the population... Because of that, well, the population suffers" (Simons 1982).

"The guerrillas have won over many Indian collaborators. Therefore, the Indians are subversives. And how do you fight subversion? Clearly you have to kill the Indians because they are collaborating with subversion. And then it would be said that you were killing innocent people. But they weren’t innocent; they had sold out to subversion" (Guatemalan Presidential adviser Francisco Bianchi, Amnesty International 1982: 6-7).

Discussion Questions According to Greg Grandin Mayan Patriarchs developed an alternative understanding of ethnicity and Nationalism in nineteenth century Guatemala. Explain why. What happens to communities victimized by state terror? How are people’s responses to terror shaped by their cultural history as well as their economic and political situations? How do perpetrators justify their violence? What role does gender play in the perpetration of, and reaction to, state violence? What theories and methods do anthropologists use in studying the personal and communal effects of state violence?