Transnational Capitalism & Indigenous Resistance in Guatemala: An Interview with Professor Giovanni Batz
The first talk of the CLAIS’ colloquium series for the Fall semester took place on October 13, 2022, with a presentation from Dr. Giovanni Batz from the University of California Santa Barbara. Dr. Batz presented on his research on Ixil Maya resistance against hydroelectric projects in Guatemala. In his interview with CLAIS, Dr. Batz talks about his path as a scholar, the relationship between transnational capitalism and indigenous resistance, and his commitment to a more engaged approach to the academy.
How did your background influence your research and scholarly path?
I’m originally from Los Angeles, I come from a working-classbackground and first gen college student. My role as an academic and my research are an attempt to contribute back to historical struggles of our ancestral lands. Many of us were born in the 1980s outside of Iximulew (the K’iche’ name for Guatemala); people had to migrate for several reasons, and I wanted to go back to understand what were the structural inequalities and violences that forced (and continue to force)people and communities to leave.
“There is a growing need to combat global warming. However most solutions are very top down and ignore solutions presented by Indigenous Peoples and those most impacted by climate change”
My first research project centered on Maya youth, and examining the tensions between indigeneity and latinidad. In the US, there is an imposed identity of Hispanic or Latinx, but I remember going to Guatemala in 1992 for the first time andseeing my grandmother in her traditional Maya clothing. My grandmother was forced to not use her clothing when she migrated to the United States. It was these types of experiences that made me question why this wasn’t talked about in the Latinx community. Instead, we see a lot of anti-black and anti-indigenous attitudes, manifested recently in the audio leaks involving Latinx LA Council Members engaging in racist rhetoric in mid-October.
Can you tell us more about your current project?
In 2011, I began to conduct research in Cotzal, Guatemala, where my research centers on extractivist industries and indigenous resistance. In 2012, a hydroelectric plant was built there by an Italian corporation after years of opposition. This plant highlights the inequalities that exist in Guatemala. Because although the plant has the capacity of generating 87 megawatts,all the energy produced gets exported. Moreover, the companyleaves an estimated less than 1% of royalties to the municipal government and, according to some community leaders, no one really knows what happens to those funds. My research demonstrates the false promises of development brought about by these megaprojects, and the ways that a corrupt Guatemalan State supports foreign companies. Often times, the governmentsends the armed forces to suppress protests.
What are some of the contradictions regarding “clean energy solutions” that your research exposes?
There is a growing need to combat global warming, however most solutions are very top down and ignore solutions presented by Indigenous Peoples and those most impacted by climate change. Instead, the often-cited solutions to combat global warming and the energy crisis are hydroelectric plants or electric cars built by companies such as Tesla. But for example, the latter is reliant on lithium mining. So, while there is a need for electricity, these projects are not sustainable for indigenous communities. The installation of the hydroelectric plant in Cotzal is an example. Today, many Indigenous Peoples in the region have been persecuted for defending their territory and resisting extractivist industries. Others have received death threats or been physically attacked, and some have had to leave the country because of their demands for ancestral indigenous rights.
Maria Aguilar, CLAIS Postdoctoral Fellow, maria.aguilar@yale.edu