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Dissertation 2014.pdf (1.14 MB)

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Genocide in Guatemala: Geopolitical Systems of Death and Power

Redwood, Nyanda J.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1396448630

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Spanish and Portuguese.
My dissertation examines the Guatemalan Maya genocide of the 1980s in light of four central geopolitical systems of death and power that I proclaim are causative to it. These are: 1) coloniality of power, 2) the invisibility of coloniality of power, 3) necropolitics, and 4) biopolitics. First, I contend that these four facets all fall within European modernity. Next, I maintain that the legacy of coloniality of power created the formation of the Guatemalan genocide-producing habitat starting most clearly in the 1950s with the U.S. led coup d’ `etat of President Arbenz as well as its lead in fighting the dissemination of communism within Latin America and the Caribbean. Thereafter, I illustrate my contention that in the case of the Maya genocide, the operating system of coloniality of power is often invisible. I do so by highlighting how Granito: A Story in Three Parts relegate the U.S’ role in the formation of the habitat of the Maya genocide to silence. After this, I uphold that the militarization of life primarily by Guatemala’s elite forces, the Kaibiles, but also by Guatemalan Guerrillas led to the material destruction of indigenous Guatemalans, the composition of which is necropolitics. And finally, I look at the administration of sovereign power at the expense of Maya lives (biopolitics) via two specific mechanisms, regulation and deduction. This falls specifically under the regime of General Efrain Rios Montt, 1982 -1983. My thesis is that the concurrence of these four facets undoubtedly produced the Maya carnage, and I posit this concurrency as a framework with which we can comprehensively understand the phenomenon of this cruel act against humanity.
Ileana Rodriguez (Advisor)
255 p.
Latin American History; Latin American Literature; Latin American Studies
Mayan Genocide; Efrain Rios Montt on Trial; Guatemala Internal Armed Conflict; Geopolitics of Death and Power; Necropolitics, Biopolitics, and Coloniality of Power in Guatemala; Silencing or Invisibility of Coloniality of Power in Guatemala; Granito

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Redwood, N. J. (2014). Genocide in Guatemala: Geopolitical Systems of Death and Power [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1396448630

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Redwood, Nyanda. Genocide in Guatemala: Geopolitical Systems of Death and Power. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1396448630.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Redwood, Nyanda. "Genocide in Guatemala: Geopolitical Systems of Death and Power." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1396448630

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1396448630
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© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.