Giovanni Batz

Assistant Professor
gbatz@ucsb.edu

Office Hours: 

Spring 2024: On Leave

Office Location: 

SH 1723

Specialization: 

Maya social movements and resistance, extractivist industries, Guatemala, migration, and forced displacement

Education: 

Ph.D. Social Anthropology, 2017, University of Texas at Austin.
 
M.A. Latin American Studies, 2010, University of Texas at Austin.
 
B.A. Political Science and Minor in History, 2008, California State University at Northridge.

Bio: 

Dr. Giovanni Batz was a 2020-2022 President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis, and a 2018-2019 Anne Ray Fellow at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Batz was previously a Visiting Assistant Professor at Miami University in Ohio, and New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. Dr. Batz has been featured, interviewed or quoted in several media outlets such as Democracy Now!, Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the Border Report, among others. 
 
His work can be accessed here: https://ucsb.academia.edu/GiovanniBatz

Publications: 

Batz, Giovanni. The Fourth Invasion: Decolonizing Histories, Megaprojects, and Ixil Maya Resistance in Guatemala. Under contract with University of California Press.

Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Covid 19, EE.UU. y Violencia Contra Migrantes de Guatemala”. In Incertidumbres y Horizontes: Ensayos sobre Covid-19. Edited by Ana María Cofiño and Alejandro Flores. Guatemala: Ediciones del Pensativo.

Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Guatemala’s Democracy in Tatters”. NACLA Report on the Americas. 55(2): 110-113

Batz, Giovanni. 2022. La Cuarta Invasión: Historias y Resistencias del Pueblo Ixil, y la Lucha contra la Hidroeléctrica Palo Viejo en Cotzal, Guatemala. Guatemala: Asociación para el Avance de las Ciencias Sociales en Guatemala. https://avancso.org.gt/publicaciones/proximas-publicaciones/

Batz, Giovanni. 2022. “State Violence and Democratic Deficiencies 25 Years After Guatemala’s Peace Accords”. Democracy and Autocracy. Vol 20(2): 30-35.

Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “La Universidad Ixil y la Descolonización del Conocimiento”. Maya America. Vol. 3(2): Pgs. 112-126. 

Heidbrink, Laruen, Giovanni Batz and Celeste Sanchez. 2021. “Why would anyone leave?”: Development, Overindebtedness, and Migration in Guatemala” Maya America. Vol. 3(3): Pgs. 5-25. 

Heidbrink, Laruen, Giovanni Batz and Celeste Sanchez. 2021. “¿Por qué alguien se iría?": Desarrollo, Sobreendeudamiento y Migración en Guatemala.” Maya America. Vol. 3(3): Pgs. 26-48. 

Batz, Giovanni. 2020. “Ixil Maya Resistance against Megaprojects in Cotzal, Guatemala”. Theory and Event. Vol. 23(4): Pgs. 1016-1036. 

Batz, Giovanni. 2018. “The Ixil University and the Decolonization of Knowledge”. In Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education, edited by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Eve Tuck, and K. Wayne Yang. New York: Routledge. 

Batz, Giovanni. 2018. “La Lucha contra Megaproyectos en la Región Ixil y la Violaciones de los Derechos Indígenas”. Pensar Guatemala Desde la Resistencia: El Neoliberalismo Enfrentado, edited by Prensa Comunitaria. Guatemala: F&G Editores. 

Batz, Giovanni. 2014. “Maya Cultural Resistance in Los Angeles: Recovering Identity and Culture among Maya Youth”. Latin American Perspectives. Vol. 41(3): Pgs. 194-207. 

Batz, Giovanni. 2014. “Military Factionalism and the Consolidation of Power in 1960s Guatemala”. In Beyond the Shadow of the Eagle: New Histories of Latin America’s Cold War. Edited by Virginia Garrard-Burnett, Mark Lawrence, and Julio Moreno. University of New Mexico Press. 

 

Other Publications

Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Extractive Industries in Guatemala: Historic Maya Resistance Movements”. ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Spring Issue.https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/extractive-industries-in-guatemala-historic-maya-resistance-movements/
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Industrias extractivas en Guatemala: Movimientos históricos de resistencia maya”. ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Spring Issue. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/extractive-industries-in-guatemala-historic-maya-resistance-movements/
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “La democracia guatemalteca hecha jirones”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/la-democracia-guatemalteca-hecha-jirones
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Thelma Cabrera: ‘We Are Fighting for a Plurinational State and Well-being of the Peoples’”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/thelma-cabrera-we-are-fighting-plurinational-state-and-well-being-peoples
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Thelma Cabrera: ‘Estamos luchando por un Estado plurinacional para el bien vivir de los pueblos’”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/thelma-cabrera-estamos-luchando-por-un-estado-plurinacional-para-el-bien-vivir
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2022. “Violation of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights at the U.S.-Mexico Border”. Spotlight Report on the Borderlands: How Racism, Militarization, and Surveillance Create a Human Rights Crisis on the U.S.- Mexico Border. Pp. 21-26. Edited by National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. https://spotlight.nnirr.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Spotlight-Report-on-the-US-Mexico-Borderlands_WEB.pdf
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2022. “25 Years After the Peace Accords, Democracy Weak in Guatemala”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/25-years-after-peace-accords-democracy-weak-guatemala
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2022. “A 25 Años de los Acuerdos de Paz, Democracia Débil en Guatemala”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/25-anos-de-los-acuerdos-de-paz-democracia-debil-en-guatemala
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “U.S. Policy Toward Central America Continues Legacy of Displacement”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/news/2021/04/28/us-policy-central-america-migration-displacement
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “La política de EE. UU. hacia Centroamérica continúa el legado del desplazamiento”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/news/2021/04/29/ee-uu-centroamerica-migracion-desplazamiento
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “Guatemala’s National Strike Demands Structural Change”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/guatemala%E2%80%99s-national-strike-demands-structural-change
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “El Paro Nacional de Guatemala Exige un Cambio Estructural”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/paro-nacional-guatemala-exige-cambio-estructural
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2019. "Alliance for Prosperity?". Hot Spots, Fieldsights, https://culanth.org/fieldsights/alliance-for-prosperity
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2019. "¿Alianza Para la Prosperidad?". Hot Spots, Fieldsights, https://culanth.org/fieldsights/alliance-for-prosperity
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2019-2021. Bilingual Column for Plaza Pública (Guatemala) / Columna Bilingüe para Plaza Pública (Guatemala). https://www.plazapublica.com.gt/users/gio-batz