Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

Buried Secrets

Truth and Human Rights in Guatemala

  • Book
  • © 2003

Overview

Authors:
  1. Victoria Sanford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Prologue

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 1-12

  3. Introduction

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 13-29

  4. “The Bones Don’t Lie”

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 30-48

  5. The Silencing of Maya Women

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 49-75

  6. “It Fills My Heart with Sadness”

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 76-96

  7. The Exhumation and the Anti-Christ

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 97-120

  8. The Phenomenology of Terror

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 121-146

  9. Guatemalan Army Campaigns of Genocide

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 147-179

  10. From Survivor Testimonies to the Discourse of Power

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 180-210

  11. The Power Effects of Declaring the Truth

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 211-231

  12. Excavations of the Heart

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 232-247

  13. Genocide and the “Grey Zone” of Justice

    • Victoria Sanford
    Pages 248-271

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 272-313
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Between the late 1970s and the mid 1980s, Guatemala was torn by a civil war which came to be known as La Violencia. During this time of mass terror and extreme violence, more than 600 massacres occurred in villages destroyed by the army, one and a half million people were displaced, and more than 200,000 civilians murdered. 83% of the victims were Maya, the indigenous people of Guatemala. Buried Secrets brings these chilling statistics to life as it chronicles the journey of Mayan survivors seeking truth, justice, and community healing and demonstrates that the Guatemalan army carried out a systematic and intentional genocide against the Maya. Victoria Sanford provides us with an insider's look at the workings of the Commission for Historical Clarification through the exhumation of clandestine cemeteries. The book is based on exhaustive research, including more than 400 testimonies from massacre survivors, interviews with members of the forensic team, human rights leaders, high-ranking military officers, guerrilla combatants, and government officials. Buried Secrets traces truth-telling and political change from isolated Maya villages to national political events, and provides a unique look into the experiences of Maya survivors as they struggle to rebuild their communities and lives.

Reviews

'No book on this topic has approached the thoroughness and raw impact of Victoria Sandford's Buried Secrets.' - Christian Parenti, San Diego Union-Tribune

'...Sanford critically and eloquantly documents the U.S. sponsored violations of human rights in Guatemala.' - Lilliana Patricia Sandeman, San Antonio Express-News

'This landmark book reaches out to those who are trying to understand Guatemala...' - Jim Przepasniak, El Paso Times

'Victoria Sanford leads us into a powerful and heartbreaking history of testimonies. Her journey into this war zone ... is clear-eyed, haunting and, above all, close to the ground.' - Michael Ondaatje, Author of Anil's Ghost

'The genocide in Guatemala and how survivors have dealt with it constitutes, in Victora Sanford's gripping and compassionate tale, a crucial lesson in ways in which to keep memory and hope alive.' - Ariel Dorfman, Author of Death and the Maiden

About the author

Victoria Sanford is Professor and Chair of Anthropology and Founding Director of the Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies at Lehman College, City University of New York, USA. She is a member of the anthropology doctoral faculty at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She holds a doctorate in Anthropology from Stanford University where she studied International Human Rights Law and Immigration Law at Stanford Law School. She was a Bunting Peace Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, Harvard University. 

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation