Major and Classification
Social Sciences with emphasis in Psychology and Contemporary Latino and Latin American Studies
Faculty Mentor
George Sánchez, PhD., Professor of History and American Studies & Ethnicity
Department
Dornsife: Sociology
Research Gateway Project
“The Lasting Effects of the Guatemalan Genocide”
Project Abstract
Between 1960 and 1996 in Guatemala, injustices against the indigenous and poor ladinos (non-indigenous Guatemalans) led to an outbreak of war. Guatemala experienced years of violence and mass killings, where the military targeted and eliminated the majority of the country’s indigenous population. Drawing from a series of taped interviews with genocide victims collected by The USC Shoah Foundation’s Institute for Visual History and Education, as well as interviews conducted with young Guatemalans between the ages of 18 and 32 years of age living in Los Angeles, California, I present each generation’s history and examine the effects the genocide has had on the lives of these individuals. By learning about and understanding the history of the Guatemalan genocide, I found differences in migration and identity patterns differentiated amongst the two different groups. I was able to confirm that although the genocide and violence occurred decades ago, Guatemalans are still experiencing the effects. Although other scholars have conducted research on the Guatemalan genocide, it was crucially important to study the difference between genocide victims living in Guatemala and those born post-genocide living outside of the country because it not only demonstrates differences between the two groups, but it also brings awareness to the genocide.