Gender Violence, Specialized Courts and Guatemalan Asylum Cases in the United States

Lynn Stephen will speak on indigenous Guatemalan women and children who are survivors of multiple violences in Guatemala, including those who flee to the U.S. Her talk examines transborder gender violence and the complexities of kinship, specialized courts (gender violence courts in Guatemala, and immigration courts in the U.S.), organized crime, and transborder communities for indigenous Guatemalan women. This research is based on fieldwork in Huehuetenango, Xela, and Guatemala City as well as 50 asylum cases in the U.S. About the Lecturer: Lynn Stephen is Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Anthropology, and a participating faculty member in Ethnic Studies, Latin American Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. She was the founding director of the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies (CLLAS,http://cllas.uoregon.edu/) for 9 years (2007-2016), served as chair of the Department of Anthropology from 2001-2004, and was a co-coordinator for the Americas in a Globalized World “Big Idea,” Strategic Initiative at the University of Oregon from 2009-2011. Her scholarly work centers on the impact of globalization, migration, nationalism and the politics of culture on indigenous communities in the Americas which is the focus of her two most recent projects. The first is a book titled Testimony, Social Memory and the Public Sphere: Elena Poniatowska’s Crónicas in Mexico. What role do testimony and testimonial writing play in creating social and historical memory? The second is a research project in collaboration with Dr. Erin Beck (Political Science, UO) and Dr. Gabriela Martínez (Journalism and Communication, UO), exploring access to gendered justice for indigenous women in Guatemala and Mam indigenous refugee women in the U.S. Stephen has authored or edited 11 books, three special journal issues and over 80 scholarly articles. Recent books include We are the Face of Oaxaca: Testimony and Social Movement, Otros Saberes: Collaborative Research on Indigenous and Afro-Descendent Cultural Politics, and Transborder Lives: Indigenous Oaxacans in Mexico, California, and Oregon. She is currently working as a core committee member of AAA to develop the next large public education project of the American Anthropological Association titled, World on the Move: 100,000 Years of Human Migration