Testimonio: Canadian Mining and the Aftermaths of Genocide in Guatemala ed. by Catherine Nolin and Grahame Russell (review)

Abstract

Fever, an audiovisual registry of environmental harms, human rights violations, and repression caused by Goldcorp Inc.’s mining operation in the western highlands of Guatemala, Noam Chomsky says, “You cannot say the mining companies are responsible for General Efraín Ríos Montt’s slaughter but they are benefiting from the structures that were left in place after those many years of savagery and violence and repression” (Haines & Haines, 2013, minute 14:30). For Indigenous peoples in Guatemala, contemporary mining practices are experienced within a lingering legacy of colonialism and genocide (see Lovell & Lutz, 1996; Solano, 2005). Testimonio narrates the history of mining in Guatemala—one of emblematic impunity—and raises the voices and stories of the resilience of Indigenous communities who are dialectically defined by the history of injustices they have faced, even after transitioning from a military dictatorship to a multicultural democracy. The postwar context shaped many aspects of the current Guatemalan anti-mining movement. The Peace Accords of 1996 allowed activism to proliferate, but, as the book shows, the legacies of genocides Reference Conzen, M. (1993). Culture regions, homelands, and ethnic archipelagos in the United States: Methodological considerations. Journal of Cultural Geography, 13(2), 13-29. https:// doi.org/10.1080/08873639309478386