NOTES

From Beatriz Manz, 1995, "Reflections on an Antropologia Comprometida: Conversations with Ricardo Falla," in Fieldwork Under Fire: Contemporary Studies of Violence and Survival, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 260-274.

Berkeley anthropologist Beatriz Manz interviews Dr. Ricardo Falla who is a Guatemalan, Jesuit priest, and anthropologist. His book, Massacres in the Jungle: Ixcan, Guatemala, 1975-1982, exposes the role of the Guatemalan government and military in death squads. This book, a result of his life and work among some Communities of Population in Resistance (CPR), led the government to declare him a guerrilla commander, essentially a death sentence(261). Thus, after nearly six years with Mayan people in Guatemala, Falla became a political refugee in exile (269-270).

Falla is not only a revolutionary from the perspective of the Guatemala government and military, but also from the that of establishment anthropology, although in another sense. His work transcends basic or even applied research to emphasize advocacy. Falla does not do anthropology simply for the intellectual curiosity and entertainment of himself and colleagues, rationalizing it as objective science and scholarship (268). Instead, he is engaged in humanistic and liberation anthropology. This is fieldwork on the human condition with a compassionate concern for those variously subjected to direct and indirect state violence--- the impoverished, exploited, oppressed, dispossessed, and displaced Maya. [In the last 30 years, 42,000 disappeared and 1.3 million were displaced in a country of 9 million (119, 254)].

Falla avoids the traps of cultural relativism (265-267). He takes sides with a commitment, and even a calling, to address injustice and to promote the survival and welfare of the Maya as fellow human beings (265-266). He records and publicizes their testimony as victims of grave human rights abuses. Thereby he helps empower them by courageously breaking silence and allowing their voices to be heard by the world where there are some concerned humans who have some influence and may take action (270). In the process local people are encouraged to analyze their situation and possible alternatives and solutions (263). This is the politics of truth, a form of witnessing, which only reveals responsibilities of perpetrators but also helps heal victims. It is not mere science, but conscience at work, addressing local needs, problems, and priorities (272). Falla's conscience would not allow the usual "luxury of indifference" (269).

Guatemala is one of the countries most heavily researched by anthropologists (266). While most foreign anthropologists who had previously worked in Guatemala avoided the country, and while many Guatemalan social scientists remained safe by either staying quiet in the cities or going into exile, Falla and a few others worked in the interior to document and expose state violence (271). [(Myrna Mack was one of the others, until brutally assassinated by a military intelligence officer (see Oglesby in Nordstrom-Robben)]. Anthropologist and host community are not morally disconnected (262).

Manz concludes that the anthropologist as witness has the potential to offer a unique perspective and method for understanding the human condition and addressing conflict and justice (273-274).