Description
Book SynopsisAn examination of how Guatemalans are reckoning with the aftermath of a civil war that left fundamental assumptions about selves and others in tatters when it officially ended in 1996.
Trade Review“. . .Nelson has given us a challenging, rich, creative text, remarkable for the ends, and beginnings, that it generates.” - Emily Yates-Doerr,
e-misférica“[A] lively, compassionate, provocative exploration of experience in postwar Guatemala.
Reckoning makes an important contribution to understanding
contemporary Guatemala and provides deep insights into the human political/social psychological condition.” - Norman B. Schwartz,
Current Anthropology“[Nelson’s] elaborate account provides detailed information on important persons, events, and diverse social units, including Maya communities, NGOs, political parties and organizations, the Guatemalan state, the United States and other foreign powers. Her account of salient events that occured during this period reveal her profound and detailed knowledge of recent history in Guatemala, and this alone makes the book invaluable for anyone interested in recent developments in that effervescent country.” - Robert M. Carmack,
The Americas“[A] unique, powerful vision of Guatemala today. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” - C. Hendrickson,
Choice“The struggle to understand violence is a consuming task for many around the globe. Diane M. Nelson articulates stunning insights into the problem of understanding the violence in Guatemala and, by extension, our whole world of war and structural harm.”—
Catherine A. Lutz, editor of
The Bases of Empire: The Global Struggle against U.S. Military Posts“
Reckoning . . . is hauntingly beautiful, raising provocative questions, analytic complexities, and fascinating interconnections. It convincingly captures what it means to question assumptions, to challenge what we know, as it shows us some of the myriad ways that Guatemalans make sense of violence, loss, and the future.” -- Jennifer Burrell * PoLAR *
“. . . Nelson has given us a challenging, rich, creative text, remarkable for the ends, and beginnings, that it generates.” -- Emily Yates-Doerr * e-misférica *
“[A] lively, compassionate, provocative exploration of experience in postwar Guatemala.
Reckoning makes an important contribution to understanding
contemporary Guatemala and provides deep insights into the human political/social psychological condition.” -- Norman B. Schwartz * Current Anthropology *
“[A] unique, powerful vision of Guatemala today. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” -- C. Hendrickson * Choice *
“[Nelson’s] elaborate account provides detailed information on important persons, events, and diverse social units, including Maya communities, NGOs, political parties and organizations, the Guatemalan state, the United States and other foreign powers. Her account of salient events that occured during this period reveal her profound and detailed knowledge of recent history in Guatemala, and this alone makes the book invaluable for anyone interested in recent developments in that effervescent country.” -- Robert M. Carmack * The Americas *
Table of ContentsPref/face. Little Did I Know xiii
AcKNOWLEDGEmeants xxxiii
Chapter One. Under the Sign of the Virgen de Transito 1
Intertext One. Those who Are Transformed 31
Chapter Two. The Postwar Milieu: Means, Ends, and Identi-ties 39
Intertext Two. Co-memoration and Co-laboration: Screening and Screaming 73
Chapter Three. Horror's Special Effects 86
Intertext Three. Confidence Games 115
Chapter Four. Indian Giver or Nobel Savage?: Rigoberta Menchu Tum's Stoll/en Past 126
Intertext Four. Welcome to Bamboozled! A Modern-Day Minstrel Show 156
Chapter Five. Anthropologist Discovers Legendary Two-Faced Indian 165
Intertext Five. Look Out! Step Right Up! Paranoia and Other Entertainmeants 197
Chapter Six. Hidden Powers, Duplicitous State/s 208
Intertext Six. Counterscience in Colonial Laboratories 242
Chapter Seven. Life during Wartime 252
Intertext Seven. How Do You Get Someone to Give You Her Purse? 280
Chapter Eight. Accounting for the Postwar, Balancing the Book/s 290
Chapter Nine. The Ends 322
Notes 327
Works Cited 361
Index 387
