Learning from the Afterlife of Genocide: Chronicles of Guatemala.

The Guatemalan genocide was the systematic murder of Maya civilians during the government rule in the 1970s and 1980s.  Some 200,000 lives were taken by military and paramilitary operations during this era, all the while the government denied it was occurring. Governments are notoriously lousy at hiding secrets forever, and the military dictatorship in Guatemala was no exception.  In 2005 an abandoned room was discovered by Guatemala's human rights office.  In it was a vast collection of police records, reports and other documents that revealed the systemic implementation of murder and violence against Maya people by the government. A "staggering discovery" of records that proudly documented abuse and murder, this collection of documents was one of the most revealing collections of documents from Guatemala's dirty war.   The police archive revealed that not only was genocide carefully planned and systemically executed, but it was proudly recorded!  Dr. Catherine Nolin's research and teaching focuses on learning from the afterlife of those who were targeted during the genocide.  Her research digs into the deeper significance of the genocide and how it was recorded.  And, she even takes her students and colleagues on field trips to Guatemala to engage in this historic landscape of violence first hand.  In this conversation, she outlines her work. Catherine Nolin is a Professor of Geography and Chair of the Department of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at UNBC (newly re-named in April 2021). In July 2020, she was honoured to Chair the Conference of Latin American Geography (CLAG)organization. CLAG is the premier organization for geographers engaging in research in Latin America and the Caribbean and works to foster research, education, and service related to Latin American geographical studies. She considers herself a long-time insurgent researcher and social justice advocate, including more than 25 years grappling with the afterlives of the Guatemalan genocides. Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter:  @ProfessorHuish