Indigenous People and the Current Governance Crisis in Guatemala

Wednesday, February 8, 2023
12 PM
UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library, Presentation Room

Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj is Maya-K’iche’ journalist, activist and social anthropologist. She has been at the forefront of the struggles for respect for indigenous rights and culture in Guatemala and in other countries of the region. In 2002 she was instrumental in making racial discrimination illegal in Guatemala. She is the author of the books: La pequeña Burguesía Comercial de Guatemala: Desigualdades de clasa, raza y género (2003), Pueblos indígenas, Estado y lucha por tierra en Guatemala: Estrategias de sobrevivencia y negociación ante la desigualdad globalizada (2008) and “La Justicia nunca estuvo de nuestro lado” Peritaje cultural sobre conflicto armado y violencia sexual en el caso Sepur Zarco, Guatemala (2019). Dr. Nimatuj has published two poetry books: Lunas y Calendarios, colección poesía guatemalteca (2018) and Doscientos años que gritan luchan (2021). Dr. Nimatuj writes a weekly newspaper column for el Periódico de Guatemala. In 2020 she received the LASA/Oxfam America Martin Diskin Memorial Lectureship Award for her scholarly work and activism.

This is event is made possible by the UCLA Library.