Scholar Activism in Action: Solidarity with Mining Resistance in Guatemala
Global Friday Presents
Dr. Catherine Nolin
Professor of Geography and Chair of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Northern British Columbia
Abstract: Co-editors of the new book Testimonio,* Catherine Nolin and Grahame Russell draw on over thirty years of community-based research and direct community support work in Guatemala to expose the state machinery that benefits the Canadian mining industry—a staggeringly profitable juggernaut of exploitation, sanctioned and supported every step of the way by the Canadian government. This edited collection calls on Canadians to hold our government and companies fully to account for their role in enabling and profiting from violence in Guatemala. The text stands apart in featuring a series of unflinching testimonios (testimonies) authored by Indigenous community leaders in Guatemala, as well as wide-ranging contributions from investigative journalists, scholars, lawyers, activists, and documentarians on the ground. Catherine will share her own experiences with activist research and discuss the new book.
*Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala
Jim Deva Prize for Writing That Provokes, 2022 (Short-listed), BC and Yukon Book Prizes
Awarded annually “to the author(s) and/or illustrators of an original work of published writing that challenges or provokes the ideas and forces that shape what society can become.”
Speakers Bio: Catherine Nolin is a Professor of Geography and Chair of the Department of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. Catherine recently completed her 4-year term as the elected Vice-Chair & Chair of the Conference of Latin American Geography (CLAG). CLAG is the premier geographic organization for geographers engaging in research in Latin America and the Caribbean and works to foster research, education, and service related to Latin American geographical studies. Catherine is a long-time insurgent researcher and social justice advocate who has been grappling with the afterlives of the Guatemalan genocides for more than twenty-five years.
In person: 7-150
Online through Zoom Webinar
Global Fridays gratefully acknowledges funding from the Faculties of Indigenous Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities; Business and Economics; Environment; Human and Health Sciences; Science and Engineering.