Dissertation Research: Community Development in the Western Guatemalan Highlands

这个项目将允许学生在文化人类学进行研究，导致论文。这名学生将住在危地马拉北部的玛雅印第安人社区，并将通过研究一个不同寻常的严酷案例，探索一群处于从属地位的农民如何试图重新谈判其处境的条款，这个案例是在一次不成功的游击起义后被危地马拉军队占领的玛雅印第安人。通过关注危地马拉北部的战后重建，研究土地分配项目和福音派新教教会的快速增长，该项目将有助于了解贫困农民社区在面对外部压力时如何保护自己。使用的方法将包括参与观察、档案研究以及与相关政府和非政府机构的正式访谈。这项研究很重要，因为危地马拉印第安人的残酷近代史（参与当地战斗、被国家军队占领、受到宗教传教士的影响）是农民社区的共同经历，而世界上很大一部分人口生活在这些社区。加深我们对这些社区如何应对这些压力的了解，将有助于我们应对这些变化。

This project will allow a student in cultural anthropology to conduct research leading towards a dissertation. The student will live in a Mayan Indian community in northern Guatemala, and will explore how a subordinate population of peasants tries to renegotiate the terms of its situation by studying an unusually harsh case, that of Mayan Indians who have been occupied by the Guatemalan army following an unsuccessful guerrilla uprising. By focusing on the postwar reconstruction in northern Guatemala, studying the land distribution projects and the rapid growth of evangelical Protestant churches, the project will contribute to an understanding of how poor peasant communities defend themselves in the face of external pressure. Methods used will include participant observation, archival research, and formal interviews with relevant government and non-government agencies. This research is important because the harsh recent history of Guatemalan Indians (involvement in local fighting, occupation by the National army, influence by religious missionaries) is a common experience in peasant communities, where a large portion of the world's population lives. Increasing our understanding how these communities react to such pressures will help us cope with these changes.