Both pictures on front page taken by Elsa van Zoest on February 20, 2016 in Quetzaltenango 2 “We are all victims here” Perceptions of Safety and Violence among Guatemalan youth in Santa Cruz del Quiché Bachelor Thesis 2015/2016 Elsa van Zoest – 4005678
[email protected] Supervisor: Geert Mommersteeg Word count: 18.900 3 4 Contents Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 11 1. Theoretical Framework 15 1.1 The Anthropology of Conflict 15 1.2 The Anthropology of Law 16 1.3 Conflict in Latin America 17 1.4 ‘New’ Violence in Latin America 19 1.5 Coping Strategies in Latin America 21 2. Context: Guatemala 24 3. Empirical Chapter 27 3.1 Safety and Violence in Santa Cruz del Quiché 28 3.1.1 (Mis)trust and Corruption 28 3.1.2 Indigenous Law 29 3.1.3 The Ongoing Violence 32 3.2 Perceptions of Safety and Violence in Santa Cruz del Quiché 36 3.2.1 Causes of the Ongoing Violence 36 3.2.2 Victims of the Ongoing Violence 39 3.2.3 Gang Violence 41 3.3 Coping Strategies of the Youth in Santa Cruz del Quiché 43 3.3.1 Dealing with Unsafe Surroundings 43 3.3.2 Consequences of the Ongoing Violence 45 4. Concluding Remarks 49 Bibliography 53 Appendixes 58 A. Overview informants 58 B. Summary in Spanish 59 5 6 Figure 1: Map of Guatemala and neighboring countries. The purple triangle displays the location of Santa Cruz del Quiché1. Figure 2: Map of Santa Cruz del Quiché, including the hospital and cemetery.