Silenced Communities

Marcia Esparza is an Associate Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. She has co-edited the books State Violence and Genocide in Latin America (2009), Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America (2015), and Remembering the Rescuers of Victims of Human Rights Crimes in Latin America (2016).

“At the intersection of historical and military sociology, postcolonial thought and genocide studies, the author sheds light on the consequences of decades of military presence in impoverished communities in the Chichicastenango region in Western Guatemala’s highlands. Her extensive experience of over 20 years conducting research in Guatemala contributes to the in-depth analysis of this volume…All in all, Esparza’s study provides valuable insight into the mechanisms of violence in the early eighties.” • Forum for Development Studies“By combining postcolonial theory, military sociology and genocide studies, Marcia Esparza gives those largely silenced communities in Guatemala a sympathetic voice.” · Jürgen Zimmerer, University of Hamburg

• IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: "My Soul is a Military Soul"Chapter 1. The Methodological Crisis RevisitedChapter 2. A Postcolonial Reenactment:The Cold War Civil Self-Defense Patrol System  Chapter 3. A Chameleonlike Army: Civic Action, a Postcolonial StrategyChapter 4. The Beheading of a Popular Maya Uprising in a “Red Community”Chapter 5. Early Disbanding, Postwar Resistance and Na'tab'al (Memory)Chapter 6. “Inverted Discourse:” Collaboration in “White Communities”Chapter 7. Nationalistic Mythology Revival: Failure to Dismantle the Internal Enemy MythChapter 8. A “Silence That Hurts:” Garrison  CommunitiesChapter 9. Militaristic Legacies: Lynching and La CadenaChapter 10. A Foreseen Aftermath: Decree 3-2014AppendixBibliographyIndex