Construction of Maya Identity in Guatemala. History and implications of a political process

Abstract

For some decades now and especially after the worst days of the internal armed conflict were over, along with the army’s genocidal policies, Guatemala’s indigenous organizations have taken on a project that seeks to redefine the unfair social and political relations suffered by that country’s population. The construction process of a “maya” identity, amidst the tumultuous Guatemalan political context, shows the transformations and changes in content undergone by the term itself. This process also allows us to reflect on the repercussions that this form of self-understanding might have on the ethnic construction in Guatemala and the whole of Latin America.