The 2021 Lemkin Book Award shines a spotlight on Mayan women and their search for redress for harm suffered during genocide in a book written by York University Associate Professor Alison Crosby and a colleague at Boston College.
The Institute for the Study of Genocide has named Beyond Repair? Mayan Women’s Protagonism in the Aftermath of Genocidal Harm winner of the award that recognizes the best non-fiction book published in English, or translated into English, that focuses on the causes, prevention, response or consequences of genocide and mass atrocities.
The book is co-authored by Crosby (School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies) and Professor M. Brinton Lykes (Boston College).
Beyond Repair? Mayan Women’s Protagonism in the Aftermath of Genocidal Harm explores Mayan women’s agency in the search for redress for harm suffered during the genocidal violence perpetrated by the Guatemalan state in the early 1980s at the height of the 36-year armed conflict.
The book draws on eight years of participatory action research conducted with 54 Q’eqchi’, Kaqchikel, Chuj and Mam women who are seeking truth, justice and reparation for the violence they experienced during the war, and the Mayan rights activists, women’s rights activists, lawyers, psychologists and researchers who have accompanied them as intermediaries.
According to the Institute for the Study of Genocide, the book was selected for the award for its methodological rigour, clarity of argument and sophisticated analysis of the ways in which Mayan women have sought redress for the genocidal violence carried out by the Guatemalan state.
The award will be presented in an online ceremony on Nov. 11.