Professor W. George Lovell, author of the Guatemala memoir A Beauty that Hurts, will speak about the experience of one Maya family during the 1961-1965 civil war which claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people, over 80% of whom (according to a United Nations Truth Commission) were Maya Indians. The narration of their story raises questions pertaining to continued insecurity, lack of justice, and uninvestigated crimes, the combined effects of which still haunt community life throughout the countryside in Guatemala. Telling about the experience of one family also raises issues concerning the vicissitudes of representation and how fieldwork can, on occasion, yield unanticipated but rewarding returns.

Please contact Montserrat Piera with any questions.