Exam 1 Race And Poverty
Quinones 1
Quiara Quinones
Dennis Stromback
Race and Poverty
March 9, 2015
Exam 1
In Guatemala the racial and class separation has to do primarily with the indigenous population and the Ladinos. The indigenous population focuses on the pure Mayan way of life, by speaking the Mayan language and following the traditional religion and village customs. The
Indigenous population suffered from discrimination and poverty, while being geographically isolated. Violence and repression not only affected the biological continuities of the indigenous lives but also the cultural. There were policies that had a sole purpose of destroying Mayan communities both physically and emotionally. The government tried to suppress their culture and force them to assimilate. Corinne Caumartin said, “to be ladino now denoted until recently an essentially ‘nonindigenous’ identity of individuals” (p.11) meaning that ladinos were strict on who they accepted and a person or group had to be of their standards. The base of their history is the reason why the indigenous people of Guatemala have suffered through racism and poverty. Guatemala in the 1960s suffered through violence to the point where many peasants
“faced detention, torture, and sometimes death” (State Violence in Guatemala 25). In the 1980s the indigenous people demanded that the government respected their human rights, but “the
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government was far from receptive: protesters were denied a hearing in Congress and their legal adviser was assassinated outside of police headquarter” (State Violence in Guatemala 35).
The experiences of the indigenous are similar to those of the Americans because of how people are treated and the class system behind it. In Guatemala the indigenous population are different from the Ladinos, which is “unacceptable”. The American Indians (i.e. Penobscot,
Cheyenne, Gwi’chin, and the Navajo) have suffered from environmental racism by the government and factory owners;
Quiara Quinones
Dennis Stromback
Race and Poverty
March 9, 2015
Exam 1
In Guatemala the racial and class separation has to do primarily with the indigenous population and the Ladinos. The indigenous population focuses on the pure Mayan way of life, by speaking the Mayan language and following the traditional religion and village customs. The
Indigenous population suffered from discrimination and poverty, while being geographically isolated. Violence and repression not only affected the biological continuities of the indigenous lives but also the cultural. There were policies that had a sole purpose of destroying Mayan communities both physically and emotionally. The government tried to suppress their culture and force them to assimilate. Corinne Caumartin said, “to be ladino now denoted until recently an essentially ‘nonindigenous’ identity of individuals” (p.11) meaning that ladinos were strict on who they accepted and a person or group had to be of their standards. The base of their history is the reason why the indigenous people of Guatemala have suffered through racism and poverty. Guatemala in the 1960s suffered through violence to the point where many peasants
“faced detention, torture, and sometimes death” (State Violence in Guatemala 25). In the 1980s the indigenous people demanded that the government respected their human rights, but “the
Quinones 2
government was far from receptive: protesters were denied a hearing in Congress and their legal adviser was assassinated outside of police headquarter” (State Violence in Guatemala 35).
The experiences of the indigenous are similar to those of the Americans because of how people are treated and the class system behind it. In Guatemala the indigenous population are different from the Ladinos, which is “unacceptable”. The American Indians (i.e. Penobscot,
Cheyenne, Gwi’chin, and the Navajo) have suffered from environmental racism by the government and factory owners;
References: . Bullfrog Films, 2005. DVD. Case . Oxford: Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, 2005. Print. . Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Print. Quinones 5 Ball, Patrick, and Paul Kobrak. State Violence in Guatemala, 19601996: A Quantitative Reflection . Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1999.