Too dangerous to help: White supremacy, Coloniality, and Maya youth

Abstract

Global, (trans)national, and local moments frame this article and highlight how white supremacy and modern/colonial processes and logics operate in and through Guatemala, the Chuj nation, and Chuj youth’s lives, organizing work, and educational spaces. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic research with Chuj youth and educators, I argue that education, development, and Indigenous youth are at once targets of these racialized colonial logics and important sites of decolonial resistance. Building on decolonial theories, this article centers Chuj youth’s insights into the contours of racialized modern/colonial processes and brings theminto conversation with (trans)national, state, and media discourses to highlight the complex material and corporeal implications of white supremacist colonial frameworks. Ultimately, I contend that Chuj youth provide insights into the impacts of modern/colonial processes and decolonial possibilities.