Migration and Human Rights Project
Zacualpa, Guatemala (2008-2016)
Community-based participatory action research and legal advocacy
Led by Professor M. Brinton Lykes
The Migration and Human Rights Project, based in Zacualpa, Quiché, Guatemala, was a collaborative project between local Zacualpans, Guatemala-based researchers and religious, and Boston College-based students, faculty, and legal staff.
The Zacualpa team produced two manuals stemming from their work with migrants and their families and youth in educational settings in Guatemala:
Herramientas y reflexiones para el trabajo con jóvenes: Desde nuestras experiencias trabajando en comunidades y centros educativos de Zacualpa (Tools and reflections for working with youth: from our experiences in communities and educational centers in Zacualpa)
Manual de acompañamiento a las familias que quedan tras la migración (Manual for Accompanying Family Members who are "Left Behind" after a Migration)
Church of the Holy Spirit, Zacualpa.
Project Summary
The project studied social, political and psychological factors contributing to migration among the local population, offering assistance to them where practical. To these ends, the project conducted a range of activities including:
assisting local Zacualpans seeking to locate their family members that have migrated to the US;
offering legal assistance from BC-based legal staff when applicable;
offering support services and networking to family members “left behind” through a local staffed office;
studying the demographics of migrating community members as well as the effects of migration on local families through community surveys;
collaborating in participatory and action research with local Zacualpans to better understand the social and psychological effects of on families separated transnationally by migration, and to better understand the push and pull factors of migration through interviews with local residents; and
conducting participatory workshops to encourage the local residents, particularly youth, to engage the how?, where?, why?, questions that emerge for them as their families and friends around them depart for distant lands.
Finally, the projects seeks to work with those who have returned – either voluntarily or through deportation – to explore varied uses of their social capital in developing local initiatives and creating more life options for those living in Guatemala.