Migration and Human Rights Project

Community-based participatory action research and legal advocacy

Led by Professor M. Brinton Lykes

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.