Brigittine M French

The purpose of this research is to analyze Maya-Kaqchikel genocide survivor testimonies from the armed conflict in Guatemala (1960-1996). After spending 2023-2025 transcribing 65 archived life histories in the original Spanish and Kaqchikel languages, a Wenner-Gren Post PhD Research Grant will enable me to take the next step in the research process to analyze linguistically and qualitatively this body of survivor testimony from Maya communities and to collect supplementary data through the presentation of those analyses in Maya-Kaqchikel communities in the Guatemalan highlands during the 12 month period of the award. I do so in collaboration with two Maya-Kaqchikel research assistants, both of whom are from survivor communities and families who experienced violence. I hypothesize that Maya-Kaqchikel survivor testimonies disrupt official and dominant national and international histories of colonization, war, and enduring violence from Indigenous perspectives. At the end of the grant period, all the data analysis for a university press book manuscript will be complete. In the year following a generous Wenner-Gren award, I will complete and submit the manuscript with the support of a 12-month institutional sabbatical.