University of California, Santa Barbara
Latin American and Iberian Studies Program
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Ixil Maya Resistance against Megaprojects in Cotzal, Guatemala
October 13, 2020 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Join us to hear from Dr. Giovanni Batz (UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Davis) about “Ixil Maya Resistance against Megaprojects in Cotzal, Guatemala”
Among the Ixil Maya of Guatemala, the arrival of megaprojects is referred to as the “new invasion”. This presentation examines a movement in Cotzal, Guatemala against the construction of the Palo Viejo hydroelectric plant built by the Italian company Enel on the finca San Francisco from 2008-2012. The struggle was characterized by peaceful resistance, a four-month blockade, and the arrival of the military. I argue that the arrival of megaprojects, such as Palo Viejo, continues the history of a colonial logic of extraction, and is an extension of the historical tensions between the Indigenous Peoples, the fincas, and the Guatemalan state.
Co-sponsored by the Global Studies Department, Anthropology Department, Latin American and Iberian Studies, and Program, and American Indian and Indigenous Collective.
Join us on Zoom: https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/87106420611
