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Marcia Esparza

John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice, Faculty Member

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University of the Basque Country, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

Olivier Debande

Maria Josefina Saldaña-Portillo

New York University

Karine Vanthuyne

University of Ottawa | Université d'Ottawa

CIESAS

Javier García Fernández

Universidad Europea de Madrid

Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS)

Manolo E . Vela Castaneda

Universidad Iberoamericana - Mexico

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Papers by Marcia Esparza

ME Chapter 009 Moroccan and Guatemalan soldiers

Southernizing Criminology, 2024

Based on multi-country fieldwork with Indigenous communities, military records, and museums, this... more Based on multi-country fieldwork with Indigenous communities, military records, and museums, this chapter offers an interdisciplinary analysisdecolonial criminology, critical military studies, war, and genocide-of the Guatemalan and Spanish military to understand the racialized hierarchies of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. These hierarchies differentiate between the 'good Indians' and the 'bad Indians'. In both cases during war situations, right-wing, fascist armies have reabsorbed the colonized, as colonial soldiers, into their ranks because they are needed to carry out deadly military campaigns. Specifically, I focus on the persuasive role that military war propaganda plays in co-opting Indigenous troops' support to fight wars for the colonizer. What where they told by the military to get them to serve in counterinsurgency, they had little to gain from? Should critical Southernizing criminology turn its gaze to an examination of colonial and Cold War military crimes? Chapter 9 Moroccan and Guatemalan military servicemen

Genocide in Chile? An assessment

Routledge, Sep 10, 2009

... Word count: 814. Text sample: Genocide in Chile? An Assessment Maureen S. Hiebert 1 andPablo ... more

Closing the Gap

Behind Bars, 2009

Silenced Communities

Berghahn Books, Oct 17, 2022

Indigeneity, Memory, and Postgenocide in Guatemala

Postgenocide

Whereas scholars and activists have examined different aspects of causes and processes of the gen... more Whereas scholars and activists have examined different aspects of causes and processes of the genocide against the Indigenous Maya community in Guatemala (1981–1983), its aftermath continues to be under-represented in the existing literature. This gap obscures the lingering effects and long-term repercussions of extreme forms of state violence and the reality of resistance by Maya communities. The chapter examines the role played by local archives in decolonizing dominant narratives, which silenced Indigenous Maya resistance against state violence in the wake of genocide in Guatemala in the early 1980s. In this sense, the recovery and preservation of local archives (maintained by Indigenous communities) can reveal alternative memories of resistance to state violence. The chapter considers what presentations of genocide in local archives suggest for the framing of current identities and understanding of indigeneity, and whether local archives might promote intra-community and nationa...

Introduction: Globalizing Latin American studies of state violence and genocide

Sin recetas mágicas: algunos fundamentos de las tareas de la paz en procesos de transición política

Universitat Internacional De La Pau Recull De Ponencies, 2008

Justicia y memoria histórica en la posguerra balcánica

Balcanes

Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America: A Janus-Faced Paradigm? - by Schneider, Nina and Esparza, Marcia

Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2018

This book is a welcome contribution to the growing critical literature on transitional justice (T... more This book is a welcome contribution to the growing critical literature on transitional justice (TJ) in Latin America. The book's editors approaches TJ as a 'paradigm', which in their understanding involves 'both a discursive pattern and a set of socially embodied practices (truth commissions, reparations, amnesties, lustration, memory initiatives, and prosecutions) that guide and shape thought ant action in and about power-conflict societies' (p. xv). They argue that the TJ paradigm is 'Janus-faced' in that it can, on the one hand, serve as a catalyst for accountability, while, on the other, it can have a range of negative (unintended) effects. It is with regard to the latter that the book's contributors advance a wide-ranging set of critiques of TJ scholarship and practice by highlighting, for example, the potential undermining of local ownership and participation in post-conflict initiatives, the often inflated expectations of TJ mechanisms, the failure of practice to tackle root causes of violence, the privileged status of criminal prosecutions in dominant strands of policy, as well as the prescriptive inclinations of many TJ scholars and practitioners. The book covers a range of country case studies. In a detailed study of Argentina, Rosario Figari Layús suggests that the term 'transitional justice' has limited resonance among participants in trials of perpetrators of past human rights violations currently under way in that country. Edson Teles and Renan Quinalha offer an insightful analysis of the ambiguous use of TJ discourse in Brazil. In a fascinating chapter on legal mobilisation in Brazil, Cecília MacDowell Santos shines light on civil society actors' struggles for truth, justice and memory, often against considerable odds. Steve Dobransky offers a critique of TJ scholarship for ignoring what he refers to as the 'root causes of violence' in El Salvador, namely poverty and inequality. In her chapter on Peru, Laura Tejero Tabernero advances a Foucault-inspired critique of TJ discourse and argues that the gap between the expectations raised by that discourse and what it has delivered in practice has led to increasing disillusionment in Peru. In another chapter on Peru, José Pablo Baraybar, Jesús Peña and Percy Rojas offer as members of the renowned Peruvian Team of Forensic Anthropology an account of the limits of TJ in addressing structural poverty in their country. Debbie Sharnak discusses the role of Uruguay in TJ historiography and highlights how the passage of time shapes assessments of TJ. In a brief concluding chapter the always incisive Roberto Gargarella discusses some of the key TJ dilemmas, and offers a penetrating critique of the status and role of law in the field of TJ. Overall, the contributions to the book combine to advance an important set of critiques of key trends in TJ scholarship and practice in Latin America, as well as beyond. One could take issue with, however, the general framing in the book of the region of Latin America as a passive recipient of a global TJ paradigm. The contributions of Latin American practitioners, scholars and social movements to the development of TJ are, arguably, unparalleled. Put simply, Latin American societies have extensive early experiences with TJ, and pursued policy innovation when few international precedents existed. Moreover, Latin America is also a highly instructive region for understanding the development of TJ as a distinct human rights project. It is in large part through TJ that Latin American societies have developed meaningful human rights practices, a powerful human rights language and influential regional human rights institutions. Human rights groups, both domestic and transnational, have come into being around issues of TJ, particularly through associations of relatives of victims of state repression. Activism around

Silenced communities: legacies of militarization and militarism in a rural Guatemalan town

Forum for Development Studies, 2019

Silenced Communities

Understanding the 1982 Guatemalan genocide

Algunos Factores a Considerar en El Análisis De Un Genocidio Latinoamericano: El Papel De Los Estados Unidos, Colonialismo Interno, Legados De Silencios Sociales

Contenciosa, 2015

En este breve ensayo intento identificar tres factores que en mi opinión deben considerarse a la ... more En este breve ensayo intento identificar tres factores que en mi opinión deben considerarse a la hora del análisis de procesos genocidas en la región: el papel que juegan los proyectos imperiales de los Estados Unidos, particularmente, pero también Francia y sus doctrinas de la seguridad y desarrollo nacional; el colonialismo interno que afecta a sectores importantes de la población, grupos subalternos que viven en situación de miseria y explotación y que son a la vez víctimas y usados como carne de cañón, tal como la población indígena; y los legados ideológicos del anticomunismo que reproducen la mitología de la Guerra Fría, tales como la "teoría de los dos demonios" o del "enemigo interno".

En las manos del ejército: violencia y posguerra en Guatemala

Analisis Politico, Mar 1, 2007

La guerra muchas veces de carácter fraticida entre sectores de la población maya en Guatemala (19... more La guerra muchas veces de carácter fraticida entre sectores de la población maya en Guatemala (1962-1996) ha dejado secuelas impresas en el tejido social. En mi investigación, que incluye el trabajo de campo para la Comisión de la Verdad auspiciada por las Naciones Unidas en ese país (1997-1998), fui testiga de la destrucción de lazos de confianza y solidaridad, componentes clave en el soporte de la identidad comunal indígena. Mi estudio muestra cómo la persistente militarización produce que los sectores más empobrecidos de la población rural busquen al Ejército, como guardián de sus comunidades.

State Violence and Genocide in Latin America

State Violence and Genocide in Latin America: The Cold War Years (Routledge Critical Terrorism St... more State Violence and Genocide in Latin America: The Cold War Years (Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies) From Routledge This edited volume explores political violence and genocide in Latin America during the Cold War, examining this in light of the United States' hegemonic position on the continent. Using case studies based on the regimes of Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay, this book shows how U.S foreign policy-far from promoting long term political stability and democratic institutions-has actually undermined them. The first part of the book is an inquiry into the larger historical context in which the development of an unequal power relationship between the United States and Latin American and Caribbean nations evolved after the proliferation of the Monroe Doctrine. The region came to be seen as a contested terrain in the East-West conflict of the Cold War, and a new US-inspired ideology, the 'National Security Doctrine', was used to justify military operations and the hunting down of individuals and groups labelled as 'communists'. Following on from this historical context, the book then provides an analysis of the mechanisms of state and genocidal violence is offered, demonstrating how in order to get to know the internal enemy, national armies relied on US intelligence training and economic aid to carry out their surveillance campaigns. This book will be of interest to students of Latin American politics, US foreign policy, human rights and terrorism and political violence in general.

Impossible Memory and Post-Colonial Silences: A Critical View of the Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) or Truth Commission in Guatemala

Introduction : Whose Transition? Whose Voices? : Latin American Responses to Transitional Justice

Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America A Janus-Faced Paradigm?

Expanding the Frame: The Role Visual Research Methods Played in Documenting …

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume 22 Number 2 May 2006 113-136 © 2006 Sage Publicat... more

State violence and genocide in Latin America

C a S I L a V e R D a D : S I L e N C I O S y Secret O S en La Posdict a D U Ra Del General a U Gust O P I Nochet en Chile Almost the Truth: Silence and Secrets in Gener a L Augusto Pinochet's Post - Dictatorship , Chile

ME Chapter 009 Moroccan and Guatemalan soldiers

Southernizing Criminology, 2024

Based on multi-country fieldwork with Indigenous communities, military records, and museums, this... more Based on multi-country fieldwork with Indigenous communities, military records, and museums, this chapter offers an interdisciplinary analysisdecolonial criminology, critical military studies, war, and genocide-of the Guatemalan and Spanish military to understand the racialized hierarchies of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. These hierarchies differentiate between the 'good Indians' and the 'bad Indians'. In both cases during war situations, right-wing, fascist armies have reabsorbed the colonized, as colonial soldiers, into their ranks because they are needed to carry out deadly military campaigns. Specifically, I focus on the persuasive role that military war propaganda plays in co-opting Indigenous troops' support to fight wars for the colonizer. What where they told by the military to get them to serve in counterinsurgency, they had little to gain from? Should critical Southernizing criminology turn its gaze to an examination of colonial and Cold War military crimes? Chapter 9 Moroccan and Guatemalan military servicemen

Genocide in Chile? An assessment

Routledge, Sep 10, 2009

... Word count: 814. Text sample: Genocide in Chile? An Assessment Maureen S. Hiebert 1 andPablo ... more

Closing the Gap

Behind Bars, 2009

Silenced Communities

Berghahn Books, Oct 17, 2022

Indigeneity, Memory, and Postgenocide in Guatemala

Postgenocide

Whereas scholars and activists have examined different aspects of causes and processes of the gen... more Whereas scholars and activists have examined different aspects of causes and processes of the genocide against the Indigenous Maya community in Guatemala (1981–1983), its aftermath continues to be under-represented in the existing literature. This gap obscures the lingering effects and long-term repercussions of extreme forms of state violence and the reality of resistance by Maya communities. The chapter examines the role played by local archives in decolonizing dominant narratives, which silenced Indigenous Maya resistance against state violence in the wake of genocide in Guatemala in the early 1980s. In this sense, the recovery and preservation of local archives (maintained by Indigenous communities) can reveal alternative memories of resistance to state violence. The chapter considers what presentations of genocide in local archives suggest for the framing of current identities and understanding of indigeneity, and whether local archives might promote intra-community and nationa...

Introduction: Globalizing Latin American studies of state violence and genocide

Sin recetas mágicas: algunos fundamentos de las tareas de la paz en procesos de transición política

Universitat Internacional De La Pau Recull De Ponencies, 2008

Justicia y memoria histórica en la posguerra balcánica

Balcanes

Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America: A Janus-Faced Paradigm? - by Schneider, Nina and Esparza, Marcia

Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2018

This book is a welcome contribution to the growing critical literature on transitional justice (T... more This book is a welcome contribution to the growing critical literature on transitional justice (TJ) in Latin America. The book's editors approaches TJ as a 'paradigm', which in their understanding involves 'both a discursive pattern and a set of socially embodied practices (truth commissions, reparations, amnesties, lustration, memory initiatives, and prosecutions) that guide and shape thought ant action in and about power-conflict societies' (p. xv). They argue that the TJ paradigm is 'Janus-faced' in that it can, on the one hand, serve as a catalyst for accountability, while, on the other, it can have a range of negative (unintended) effects. It is with regard to the latter that the book's contributors advance a wide-ranging set of critiques of TJ scholarship and practice by highlighting, for example, the potential undermining of local ownership and participation in post-conflict initiatives, the often inflated expectations of TJ mechanisms, the failure of practice to tackle root causes of violence, the privileged status of criminal prosecutions in dominant strands of policy, as well as the prescriptive inclinations of many TJ scholars and practitioners. The book covers a range of country case studies. In a detailed study of Argentina, Rosario Figari Layús suggests that the term 'transitional justice' has limited resonance among participants in trials of perpetrators of past human rights violations currently under way in that country. Edson Teles and Renan Quinalha offer an insightful analysis of the ambiguous use of TJ discourse in Brazil. In a fascinating chapter on legal mobilisation in Brazil, Cecília MacDowell Santos shines light on civil society actors' struggles for truth, justice and memory, often against considerable odds. Steve Dobransky offers a critique of TJ scholarship for ignoring what he refers to as the 'root causes of violence' in El Salvador, namely poverty and inequality. In her chapter on Peru, Laura Tejero Tabernero advances a Foucault-inspired critique of TJ discourse and argues that the gap between the expectations raised by that discourse and what it has delivered in practice has led to increasing disillusionment in Peru. In another chapter on Peru, José Pablo Baraybar, Jesús Peña and Percy Rojas offer as members of the renowned Peruvian Team of Forensic Anthropology an account of the limits of TJ in addressing structural poverty in their country. Debbie Sharnak discusses the role of Uruguay in TJ historiography and highlights how the passage of time shapes assessments of TJ. In a brief concluding chapter the always incisive Roberto Gargarella discusses some of the key TJ dilemmas, and offers a penetrating critique of the status and role of law in the field of TJ. Overall, the contributions to the book combine to advance an important set of critiques of key trends in TJ scholarship and practice in Latin America, as well as beyond. One could take issue with, however, the general framing in the book of the region of Latin America as a passive recipient of a global TJ paradigm. The contributions of Latin American practitioners, scholars and social movements to the development of TJ are, arguably, unparalleled. Put simply, Latin American societies have extensive early experiences with TJ, and pursued policy innovation when few international precedents existed. Moreover, Latin America is also a highly instructive region for understanding the development of TJ as a distinct human rights project. It is in large part through TJ that Latin American societies have developed meaningful human rights practices, a powerful human rights language and influential regional human rights institutions. Human rights groups, both domestic and transnational, have come into being around issues of TJ, particularly through associations of relatives of victims of state repression. Activism around

Silenced communities: legacies of militarization and militarism in a rural Guatemalan town

Forum for Development Studies, 2019

Silenced Communities

Understanding the 1982 Guatemalan genocide

Algunos Factores a Considerar en El Análisis De Un Genocidio Latinoamericano: El Papel De Los Estados Unidos, Colonialismo Interno, Legados De Silencios Sociales

Contenciosa, 2015

En este breve ensayo intento identificar tres factores que en mi opinión deben considerarse a la ... more En este breve ensayo intento identificar tres factores que en mi opinión deben considerarse a la hora del análisis de procesos genocidas en la región: el papel que juegan los proyectos imperiales de los Estados Unidos, particularmente, pero también Francia y sus doctrinas de la seguridad y desarrollo nacional; el colonialismo interno que afecta a sectores importantes de la población, grupos subalternos que viven en situación de miseria y explotación y que son a la vez víctimas y usados como carne de cañón, tal como la población indígena; y los legados ideológicos del anticomunismo que reproducen la mitología de la Guerra Fría, tales como la "teoría de los dos demonios" o del "enemigo interno".

En las manos del ejército: violencia y posguerra en Guatemala

Analisis Politico, Mar 1, 2007

La guerra muchas veces de carácter fraticida entre sectores de la población maya en Guatemala (19... more La guerra muchas veces de carácter fraticida entre sectores de la población maya en Guatemala (1962-1996) ha dejado secuelas impresas en el tejido social. En mi investigación, que incluye el trabajo de campo para la Comisión de la Verdad auspiciada por las Naciones Unidas en ese país (1997-1998), fui testiga de la destrucción de lazos de confianza y solidaridad, componentes clave en el soporte de la identidad comunal indígena. Mi estudio muestra cómo la persistente militarización produce que los sectores más empobrecidos de la población rural busquen al Ejército, como guardián de sus comunidades.

State Violence and Genocide in Latin America

State Violence and Genocide in Latin America: The Cold War Years (Routledge Critical Terrorism St... more State Violence and Genocide in Latin America: The Cold War Years (Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies) From Routledge This edited volume explores political violence and genocide in Latin America during the Cold War, examining this in light of the United States' hegemonic position on the continent. Using case studies based on the regimes of Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay, this book shows how U.S foreign policy-far from promoting long term political stability and democratic institutions-has actually undermined them. The first part of the book is an inquiry into the larger historical context in which the development of an unequal power relationship between the United States and Latin American and Caribbean nations evolved after the proliferation of the Monroe Doctrine. The region came to be seen as a contested terrain in the East-West conflict of the Cold War, and a new US-inspired ideology, the 'National Security Doctrine', was used to justify military operations and the hunting down of individuals and groups labelled as 'communists'. Following on from this historical context, the book then provides an analysis of the mechanisms of state and genocidal violence is offered, demonstrating how in order to get to know the internal enemy, national armies relied on US intelligence training and economic aid to carry out their surveillance campaigns. This book will be of interest to students of Latin American politics, US foreign policy, human rights and terrorism and political violence in general.

Impossible Memory and Post-Colonial Silences: A Critical View of the Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) or Truth Commission in Guatemala

Introduction : Whose Transition? Whose Voices? : Latin American Responses to Transitional Justice

Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America A Janus-Faced Paradigm?

Expanding the Frame: The Role Visual Research Methods Played in Documenting …

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume 22 Number 2 May 2006 113-136 © 2006 Sage Publicat... more

State violence and genocide in Latin America

C a S I L a V e R D a D : S I L e N C I O S y Secret O S en La Posdict a D U Ra Del General a U Gust O P I Nochet en Chile Almost the Truth: Silence and Secrets in Gener a L Augusto Pinochet's Post - Dictatorship , Chile

Indigeneity, Memory, and Postgenocide in Guatemala The Stillness Power of Local Archives

Indigeneity, Memory, and Postgenocide in Guatemala The Stillness Power of Local Archives, 2020

would like to acknowledge the invaluable trustful relationship I cherish with Maya-K'iché human r... more would like to acknowledge the invaluable trustful relationship I cherish with Maya-K'iché human rights activists Angelica Macario, 'don Antonio' , Candelaria Pixcar-a survivor of one of the early 1980s Chontolá community massacre, and non-Maya Amilcar Mendéz whom have been pivotal in gaining knowledge about Cold War local Indigenous archives. I thank Samuel Neylon for reading a dra of this chapter. 1 In a recent report, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social A airs (2017, chapter IV) acknowledged that-based on 2010 census data-the Indigenous Latin American population was approximately 45.3 million. is population represents 826 di erent Indigenous people or communities, and in addition, 200 other communities are estimated to be living in voluntary isolation. See United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, <https:// www.cepal.org/ en/ infographics/ indigenous-peoples-latin-america> accessed 6 July 2020.

Introduction- Remembering the Rescuers.pdf

by Marcia Esparza and Zachary McKiernan

The Santo Tomás Chichicastenango's Municipal Firefighters " Green Pines Covering the Dead Bodies "

Introduction: Whose Transition? Whose Voices? Latin American Responses to Transitional Justice

by Nina Schneider and Marcia Esparza

Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America A Janus-Faced Paradigm?