18th Annual Tinker Symposium Keynote Lecture

Please join the Center for Latin American Studies for the 18th Annual Tinker Symposium Keynote Lecture with Dr. Giovanni Batz on Thursday, Nov. 16th from 4pm to 5pm at the Student Union, Kachina Lounge. See full program here.

Keynote Lecture: Historical Maya Displacements and the Invasion of Extractive Industries in Guatemala

Through the use of the concept of the four invasions, this presentation provides an examination of historical invasions and displacements of Maya Peoples in Guatemala. The presentation will explore extractivist industries in the form of hydroelectrics and mining that have led to militarization and state-sponsored violence against indigenous communities, human rights defenders, journalists, environmentalists, and others.

Dr. Giovanni Batz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chicana/o Studies, University of California Santa Barbara. He is the author of La Cuarta Invasión published by Asociación para el Avance de las Ciencias Sociales (AVANSCO) in Guatemala. From 2020-2022, he was a President's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. He was also a 2018-2019 Anne Ray Resident Fellow at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His research focuses on extractivist industries, Central American migration, Guatemalan history, and the relationship between historical indigenous and Maya territorial dispossession and transnational migration from Central America to the US.

Join us for a reception starting at 5:00pm.