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Rachel Sieder

CIESAS, D.F., Faculty Member

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Profesora-Investigadora, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS), Mexico City.

Associate Research Fellow School of Advanced Studies, University of London and Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen.

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Papers by Rachel Sieder

Guatemala after the Peace Accords

Challenging Citizenship, Neo-liberalism and Democracy: Indigenous Movements and the State in Latin America

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 14742830500330091, Jan 24, 2007

The three books under review analyse relations between indigenous movements and the state in Lati... more The three books under review analyse relations between indigenous movements and the state in Latin America and constitute important contributions to a rich field of interdisciplinary enquiry. While earlier considerations of 'the return of the Indian' focused on indigenous identity and the demands of indigenous movements, today scholars are increasingly concerned with the dialectical relationship between those movements and different kinds of states and state policies. 1 There is also an explicit concern with the political and legal-institutional consequences of indigenous movements' challenges to existing models of citizenship: how can collective rights claims be accommodated within Latin America? How can the tensions between individual and collective rights be resolved? And what does expanding citizenship to recognize ethnic difference mean in a continent where the majority now enjoy political rights, but civil rights guarantees are weak and socio-economic rights all but non-existent?

Políticas de guerra, paz y memoria en América Central

Las Politicas Hacia El Pasado Juicios Depuraciones Perdon Y Olvido En Las Nuevas Democracias 2002 Isbn 84 7090 309 8 Pags 247 284, 2002

David Stoll, Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans (Boulder, CO, and London: Westview Press, 1999), pp. xix+336, £20.00 hb

Journal of Latin American Studies, Oct 1, 1999

Legalidades Subalternas cosmopolitas y los retos de Etnografía Comprometida

Universitas Humanistica, Jan 6, 2013

THE MILITARY IN CENTRAL AMERICA: THE CHALLENGE OF TRANSITION

Indigenous women's access to justice in Latin America

Derecho consuetudinario y Transición Democrática en Guatemala

Publicado como Cuaderno de Debate, FLACSO-Guatemala (diciembre de 1996) * Rachel Sieder es catedr... more Publicado como Cuaderno de Debate, FLACSO-Guatemala (diciembre de 1996) * Rachel Sieder es catedrática de ciencias políticas en el Instituto de Estudios Latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Londres e investigadora asociada de FLACSO, Guatemala. Instituto de Estudios Latinoamericanos (ILAS) School of Advanced Study University of London 31 Tavistock Square London WC1H 9HA Tel: (00 44) 207-862-8870 Fax: (00 44) 207-862-8886 FLACSO -Facultad Latinomericana de Ciencias Sociales 5a. Avenida 6-23 zona 9 Guatemala Telefax: (00 502) 326729 E-mail: [email protected] Indice Introducción 1. El derecho y la reconstrucción del Estado en la transición actual Las demandas mayas y la transición guatemalteca 2. El derecho consuetudinario: definiciones 3. El derecho consuetudinario y el pluralismo legal: el desarrollo de la literatura existente Orígenes coloniales El pluralismo legal Derecho vrs. orden 4. Perspectivas para el análisis del derecho: entendiendo el derecho consuetudinario Comunidad y cultura 5. El derecho y la violencia: contrainsurgencia y cambio legal

Building Mayan Authority and Autonomy: The “Recovery” of Indigenous Law in Post-Peace Guatemala

Studies in Law, Politics and Society, 2011

Across Latin America, debates and practice around indigenous law provide a window on shifting rel... more Across Latin America, debates and practice around indigenous law provide a window on shifting relations between indigenous movements, states, and international actors. In Guatemala, the practice of indigenous law is a reflection of cultural difference, a response to past and present violence, and a resource for a population denied access to justice. In the postwar period, indigenous law has become a central element of contemporary Mayan identity politics. Together with the policy shift toward state-endorsed multiculturalism, this has meant it has become a highly contested and politicized terrain. This article examines attempts by indigenous activists to ''recuperate'' and strengthen indigenous law -or what is now termed ''Mayan law'' (derecho Maya) -in Santa Cruz del Quiche´, Guatemala. Analyzing the tensions between local demands, the Mayan movement, international NGOs and intergovernmental bodies, and the Guatemalan state, it reflects on what they reveal about the limits and contradictions of the multicultural model of justice promoted since the end of the armed conflict.

War, Peace, and Memory Politics in Central America *

The Politics of Memory and Democratization, 2001

Justicias indígenas y Estado: Violencias contemporáneas

This edited volume critically analyzes multicultural neoliberal policies in the field of justice ... more This edited volume critically analyzes multicultural neoliberal policies in the field of justice with relation to indigenous peoples in Mexico and Guatemala over the last decade. Different case studies theorize the new state configurations that articulate multicultural justice policies with current policies of national security and criminal justice reform, considering the challenges and dangers these configurations represent for indigenous peoples. From diverse ethnographic contexts, the authors document the imaginaries and understandings that are disputed within indigenous justice and tensions with state jurisdiction, illustrating the extent and limits of indigenous autonomies in the margins of the state. The authors reveal the realities of law in practice, emphasizing the perspective of indigenous actors and the ways they resignify the spaces of law and rights. Available as an ebook on amazon http://www.amazon.com/Justicias-ind%C3%ADgenas-Estado-Violencias-contempor%C3%A1neas-eboo...

Subaltern Cosmopolitan Legalities and the Challenges of Engaged Ethnography 1 Subaltern Cosmopolitan Legalities and the Challenges of Engaged Ethnography

Legalidades ubalternas cosmopolitas y los retos de tnografía omprometida Resumen: Este artículo c... more Legalidades ubalternas cosmopolitas y los retos de tnografía omprometida Resumen: Este artículo considera los retos de la investigación etnográfica comprometida con los movimientos sociales de los pueblos indígenas dentro de los campos cambiantes de interlegalidad y soberanías fragmentadas marcadas por múltiples desigualdades, racismo, impunidad y violencia. Partiendo de la experiencia de un proyecto de investigación colaborativo sobre el pluralismo legal y el acceso de las mujeres indígenas a la justicia y la seguridad, que tiene como objetivo fortalecer la legalidad cosmopolita subalterna (Rodríguez-Garavito y Santos, 2005), se analiza una serie de cuestiones, entre ellas: el privilegio académico, la autoridad etnográfica, los testimonios, sus valores, usos y abusos, interpretación y redacción de las desigualdades, así como las tensiones dentro de las comunidades y organizaciones con las que trabajamos.

Cultures of Legality: Judicialization and Political Activism in Contemporary Latin America

Judicialization and Political Activism in Latin America, 2009

ABSTRACT Legal practices and ideas about law are undergoing dramatic change in Latin America. Tod... more ABSTRACT Legal practices and ideas about law are undergoing dramatic change in Latin America. Today, a turn-of-the-century crop of constitutions grants higher courts greater powers; provides long lists of social, economic, and cultural rights; and assigns international treaties constitutional status &quot;or better&quot; within the hierarchy of laws. High courts, in turn, have begun to cast themselves as defenders of rights and to intervene in significant political controversies. And, correspondingly, political claims more often take legal forms. The growing importance of law, legal discourse and legal institutions in the political arena has led scholars to report that a &quot;judicialization of politics&quot; is underway in the region. Our volume explores this landscape of changing legal cultures. Starting with the assumption that formalism is no longer a useful concept for describing Latin American legal cultures &quot;and was in any case always an oversimplification&quot; we explore the repertoires of legal ideas and practices that accompany, cause, and are a consequence of the judicialization of politics.

La judicialización de la política en América Latina

Books, 2008

... Author Info. Rachel Sieder; Line Schjolden; Alan Angell. Registered author(s): Abstract. ... ... more ... Author Info. Rachel Sieder; Line Schjolden; Alan Angell. Registered author(s): Abstract. ... For corrections or technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (CarolinaEsguerra). Related research. Keywords: judicialización política; América Latina; References ...

Challenging Citizenship, Neo-liberalism and Democracy: Indigenous Movements and the State in Latin America

Social Movement Studies, 2005

The three books under review analyse relations between indigenous movements and the state in Lati... more The three books under review analyse relations between indigenous movements and the state in Latin America and constitute important contributions to a rich field of interdisciplinary enquiry. While earlier considerations of 'the return of the Indian' focused on indigenous identity and the demands of indigenous movements, today scholars are increasingly concerned with the dialectical relationship between those movements and different kinds of states and state policies. 1 There is also an explicit concern with the political and legal-institutional consequences of indigenous movements' challenges to existing models of citizenship: how can collective rights claims be accommodated within Latin America? How can the tensions between individual and collective rights be resolved? And what does expanding citizenship to recognize ethnic difference mean in a continent where the majority now enjoy political rights, but civil rights guarantees are weak and socio-economic rights all but non-existent?

Contested sovereignties - Rachel Sieder

Rule of Law in Latin America: The International Promotion of Judicial Reform

Latin American Politics and Society, 2003

David Stoll, Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans (Boulder, CO, and London: Westview Press, 1999), pp. xix+336, £20.00 hb

Journal of Latin American Studies, 1999

Jorge I. Domínguez and Marc Lindenberg (eds.), Democratic Transitions in Central America (Gainesville, Fl: University of Florida Press, 1997), pp. xx+210, $49.95; £45.00

Journal of Latin American Studies, 1998

CJO Search Widget (Journal of Latin American Studies) What is this? ... Download a branded Cambri... more

Sarah Radcliffe and Sallie Westwood, Remaking the Nation: Place, Identity and Politics in Latin America (London: Routledge, 1996), pp. 196, £45.00 hb, £13.99 pb

Journal of Latin American Studies, 1997

... In showing how &amp;#x27;America&amp;#x27; was invented for specific ends, Rabasa doe... more ... In showing how &amp;#x27;America&amp;#x27; was invented for specific ends, Rabasa does not for one minute wish to suggest that it has never had a ... Those by Sandra Lauderdale Graham on the Vintem Riot in Rio de Janeiro and Jeffrey Needell on Rio&amp;#x27;s vaccination riot in  largely focus on ...

Guatemala after the Peace Accords

Challenging Citizenship, Neo-liberalism and Democracy: Indigenous Movements and the State in Latin America

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 14742830500330091, Jan 24, 2007

The three books under review analyse relations between indigenous movements and the state in Lati... more The three books under review analyse relations between indigenous movements and the state in Latin America and constitute important contributions to a rich field of interdisciplinary enquiry. While earlier considerations of 'the return of the Indian' focused on indigenous identity and the demands of indigenous movements, today scholars are increasingly concerned with the dialectical relationship between those movements and different kinds of states and state policies. 1 There is also an explicit concern with the political and legal-institutional consequences of indigenous movements' challenges to existing models of citizenship: how can collective rights claims be accommodated within Latin America? How can the tensions between individual and collective rights be resolved? And what does expanding citizenship to recognize ethnic difference mean in a continent where the majority now enjoy political rights, but civil rights guarantees are weak and socio-economic rights all but non-existent?

Políticas de guerra, paz y memoria en América Central

Las Politicas Hacia El Pasado Juicios Depuraciones Perdon Y Olvido En Las Nuevas Democracias 2002 Isbn 84 7090 309 8 Pags 247 284, 2002

David Stoll, Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans (Boulder, CO, and London: Westview Press, 1999), pp. xix+336, £20.00 hb

Journal of Latin American Studies, Oct 1, 1999

Legalidades Subalternas cosmopolitas y los retos de Etnografía Comprometida

Universitas Humanistica, Jan 6, 2013

THE MILITARY IN CENTRAL AMERICA: THE CHALLENGE OF TRANSITION

Indigenous women's access to justice in Latin America

Derecho consuetudinario y Transición Democrática en Guatemala

Publicado como Cuaderno de Debate, FLACSO-Guatemala (diciembre de 1996) * Rachel Sieder es catedr... more Publicado como Cuaderno de Debate, FLACSO-Guatemala (diciembre de 1996) * Rachel Sieder es catedrática de ciencias políticas en el Instituto de Estudios Latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Londres e investigadora asociada de FLACSO, Guatemala. Instituto de Estudios Latinoamericanos (ILAS) School of Advanced Study University of London 31 Tavistock Square London WC1H 9HA Tel: (00 44) 207-862-8870 Fax: (00 44) 207-862-8886 FLACSO -Facultad Latinomericana de Ciencias Sociales 5a. Avenida 6-23 zona 9 Guatemala Telefax: (00 502) 326729 E-mail: [email protected] Indice Introducción 1. El derecho y la reconstrucción del Estado en la transición actual Las demandas mayas y la transición guatemalteca 2. El derecho consuetudinario: definiciones 3. El derecho consuetudinario y el pluralismo legal: el desarrollo de la literatura existente Orígenes coloniales El pluralismo legal Derecho vrs. orden 4. Perspectivas para el análisis del derecho: entendiendo el derecho consuetudinario Comunidad y cultura 5. El derecho y la violencia: contrainsurgencia y cambio legal

Building Mayan Authority and Autonomy: The “Recovery” of Indigenous Law in Post-Peace Guatemala

Studies in Law, Politics and Society, 2011

Across Latin America, debates and practice around indigenous law provide a window on shifting rel... more Across Latin America, debates and practice around indigenous law provide a window on shifting relations between indigenous movements, states, and international actors. In Guatemala, the practice of indigenous law is a reflection of cultural difference, a response to past and present violence, and a resource for a population denied access to justice. In the postwar period, indigenous law has become a central element of contemporary Mayan identity politics. Together with the policy shift toward state-endorsed multiculturalism, this has meant it has become a highly contested and politicized terrain. This article examines attempts by indigenous activists to ''recuperate'' and strengthen indigenous law -or what is now termed ''Mayan law'' (derecho Maya) -in Santa Cruz del Quiche´, Guatemala. Analyzing the tensions between local demands, the Mayan movement, international NGOs and intergovernmental bodies, and the Guatemalan state, it reflects on what they reveal about the limits and contradictions of the multicultural model of justice promoted since the end of the armed conflict.

War, Peace, and Memory Politics in Central America *

The Politics of Memory and Democratization, 2001

Justicias indígenas y Estado: Violencias contemporáneas

This edited volume critically analyzes multicultural neoliberal policies in the field of justice ... more This edited volume critically analyzes multicultural neoliberal policies in the field of justice with relation to indigenous peoples in Mexico and Guatemala over the last decade. Different case studies theorize the new state configurations that articulate multicultural justice policies with current policies of national security and criminal justice reform, considering the challenges and dangers these configurations represent for indigenous peoples. From diverse ethnographic contexts, the authors document the imaginaries and understandings that are disputed within indigenous justice and tensions with state jurisdiction, illustrating the extent and limits of indigenous autonomies in the margins of the state. The authors reveal the realities of law in practice, emphasizing the perspective of indigenous actors and the ways they resignify the spaces of law and rights. Available as an ebook on amazon http://www.amazon.com/Justicias-ind%C3%ADgenas-Estado-Violencias-contempor%C3%A1neas-eboo...

Subaltern Cosmopolitan Legalities and the Challenges of Engaged Ethnography 1 Subaltern Cosmopolitan Legalities and the Challenges of Engaged Ethnography

Legalidades ubalternas cosmopolitas y los retos de tnografía omprometida Resumen: Este artículo c... more Legalidades ubalternas cosmopolitas y los retos de tnografía omprometida Resumen: Este artículo considera los retos de la investigación etnográfica comprometida con los movimientos sociales de los pueblos indígenas dentro de los campos cambiantes de interlegalidad y soberanías fragmentadas marcadas por múltiples desigualdades, racismo, impunidad y violencia. Partiendo de la experiencia de un proyecto de investigación colaborativo sobre el pluralismo legal y el acceso de las mujeres indígenas a la justicia y la seguridad, que tiene como objetivo fortalecer la legalidad cosmopolita subalterna (Rodríguez-Garavito y Santos, 2005), se analiza una serie de cuestiones, entre ellas: el privilegio académico, la autoridad etnográfica, los testimonios, sus valores, usos y abusos, interpretación y redacción de las desigualdades, así como las tensiones dentro de las comunidades y organizaciones con las que trabajamos.

Cultures of Legality: Judicialization and Political Activism in Contemporary Latin America

Judicialization and Political Activism in Latin America, 2009

ABSTRACT Legal practices and ideas about law are undergoing dramatic change in Latin America. Tod... more ABSTRACT Legal practices and ideas about law are undergoing dramatic change in Latin America. Today, a turn-of-the-century crop of constitutions grants higher courts greater powers; provides long lists of social, economic, and cultural rights; and assigns international treaties constitutional status &quot;or better&quot; within the hierarchy of laws. High courts, in turn, have begun to cast themselves as defenders of rights and to intervene in significant political controversies. And, correspondingly, political claims more often take legal forms. The growing importance of law, legal discourse and legal institutions in the political arena has led scholars to report that a &quot;judicialization of politics&quot; is underway in the region. Our volume explores this landscape of changing legal cultures. Starting with the assumption that formalism is no longer a useful concept for describing Latin American legal cultures &quot;and was in any case always an oversimplification&quot; we explore the repertoires of legal ideas and practices that accompany, cause, and are a consequence of the judicialization of politics.

La judicialización de la política en América Latina

Books, 2008

... Author Info. Rachel Sieder; Line Schjolden; Alan Angell. Registered author(s): Abstract. ... ... more ... Author Info. Rachel Sieder; Line Schjolden; Alan Angell. Registered author(s): Abstract. ... For corrections or technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (CarolinaEsguerra). Related research. Keywords: judicialización política; América Latina; References ...

Challenging Citizenship, Neo-liberalism and Democracy: Indigenous Movements and the State in Latin America

Social Movement Studies, 2005

The three books under review analyse relations between indigenous movements and the state in Lati... more The three books under review analyse relations between indigenous movements and the state in Latin America and constitute important contributions to a rich field of interdisciplinary enquiry. While earlier considerations of 'the return of the Indian' focused on indigenous identity and the demands of indigenous movements, today scholars are increasingly concerned with the dialectical relationship between those movements and different kinds of states and state policies. 1 There is also an explicit concern with the political and legal-institutional consequences of indigenous movements' challenges to existing models of citizenship: how can collective rights claims be accommodated within Latin America? How can the tensions between individual and collective rights be resolved? And what does expanding citizenship to recognize ethnic difference mean in a continent where the majority now enjoy political rights, but civil rights guarantees are weak and socio-economic rights all but non-existent?

Contested sovereignties - Rachel Sieder

Rule of Law in Latin America: The International Promotion of Judicial Reform

Latin American Politics and Society, 2003

David Stoll, Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans (Boulder, CO, and London: Westview Press, 1999), pp. xix+336, £20.00 hb

Journal of Latin American Studies, 1999

Jorge I. Domínguez and Marc Lindenberg (eds.), Democratic Transitions in Central America (Gainesville, Fl: University of Florida Press, 1997), pp. xx+210, $49.95; £45.00

Journal of Latin American Studies, 1998

CJO Search Widget (Journal of Latin American Studies) What is this? ... Download a branded Cambri... more

Sarah Radcliffe and Sallie Westwood, Remaking the Nation: Place, Identity and Politics in Latin America (London: Routledge, 1996), pp. 196, £45.00 hb, £13.99 pb

Journal of Latin American Studies, 1997

... In showing how &amp;#x27;America&amp;#x27; was invented for specific ends, Rabasa doe... more ... In showing how &amp;#x27;America&amp;#x27; was invented for specific ends, Rabasa does not for one minute wish to suggest that it has never had a ... Those by Sandra Lauderdale Graham on the Vintem Riot in Rio de Janeiro and Jeffrey Needell on Rio&amp;#x27;s vaccination riot in  largely focus on ...