Óscar F. Gil-García
Legacies of Forced Migration and Photographic "Testimonio" of Indigenous Maya in the Americas
Óscar’s talk will feature the experiences of Gaspar and Amalia, a Guatemalan Akatek Maya married couple, and their children, following one of the largest immigration raids in US history. He will share how the parent’s incarceration and Amalia’s eventual deportation to Mexico impacted their children, and how in turn, their ordeal resurrected an untapped memory of the author’s experience of a deportation raid. Exactly how the disclosure of this memory with the family fostered a long-standing partnership to amplify their voices and others who continue to experience legacies of forced migration will be discussed.
Óscar F. Gil-García is a scholar of race, migration, health, and globalization. His current book project, Legacies of Forced Migration, foregrounds the experiences of Akatek Maya to understand how many who fled the Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996) and settled in Mexico and the US experienced statelessness and family separations. The book will illustrate how hemispheric immigration policies can exacerbate the vulnerabilities of Indigenous Maya migrant families transnationally. Legacies will present policy alternatives applicable to immigration enforcement trinationally and elucidate the profound resilience of Indigenous Maya families to persist against everyday forms of state exclusion.