Authors:
- Provides a unique, in-depth look at the effects of mega-development projects in the developing world
- Includes open-ended interviews with members of the Guatemalan community in Río Negro who were displaced by the construction of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam
- Presents academic content in an accessible style
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Latin American Studies (BRIEFSLAS)
Buy it now
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.
Table of contents (7 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
About this book
Using the case of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam in Guatemala, constructed between 1978 and 1983, this book examines the effects of displacement on the former residents of Río Negro, a community forcibly evicted and nearly eliminated by the military and paramilitary. Using open-ended interview discussions and testimonies, it focuses on this specific incident of displacement and violence and discusses the outcomes 30 years later. Guatemala’s history is plagued by development projects that resulted in displacement, violence, and increased marginalization of its indigenous and non-indigenous populations. In order to make way for development initiatives such as the production of bananas, African palm, coffee and sugar cane; the extraction of metals such as gold and nickel; or, in this specific case, the construction of a hydroelectric dam, the land-based, predominately Maya campesinos have been systematically uprooted from the lands of their birth and launched into uncertainty.
Theresearch findings presented, based on fieldwork conducted from January to April 2009, suggest that the majority of survivors from the massacres that took place are still adversely affected by the destruction of their families and livelihoods. While the circumstances pertaining to this event are unique, similar struggles over land and human rights continue into the present — and if policies remain unchanged, in both international development agencies as well as the Guatemalan government, clashes of this nature only increase in time.
Authors and Affiliations
-
Department of Agroecology and Society, Colegio de la Frontera Sur, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico
Nathan Einbinder
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Dams, Displacement and Development
Book Subtitle: Perspectives from Río Negro, Guatemala
Authors: Nathan Einbinder
Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Latin American Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51511-3
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-51510-6Published: 17 February 2017
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-51511-3Published: 08 February 2017
Series ISSN: 2366-763X
Series E-ISSN: 2366-7648
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 94
Number of Illustrations: 7 illustrations in colour
Topics: Cultural Geography, Environmental Geography, Human Geography, Ethnography