LE3 .A278 2018

2018

Brittain, James

Acadia University

Master of Arts

Masters

Sociology

Sociology

Guatemalan society was increasingly permeated with militarization throughout a 36-year-long civil war that devastated the rural indigenous population. The regime of Otto Pérez Molina (2012 – 2015) led to an increase in militarization of civil society. Although there is existing literature on remilitarization, a gap in the academic literature exists on this topic. Through a series of six interviews with members of the Comité Campesino del Altiplano (Highland Small Farmer’s Committee), this thesis aims to explore the topic of remilitarization through the life experiences of human rights defenders working in a socio-political context of remilitarization. Drawing on concepts such as accumulation by dispossession, separation, and neoliberalism, this work demonstrates the pressing need for further inquiry into remilitarization in Guatemala and the broader Central American region.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3191