Publication Date

8-4-2020

Keywords

Maya, migration, transnationalism, displacement, family separation

Abstract

Maya America is pleased to publish this new Spanish-language novel by Gaspar Pedro González. Accepting an original and timely work from a leading Guatemalan intellectual and novelist would be easy enough, and Gaspar’s new novel is at once insightful and provocative. Rather than presenting his characters as villains or victims, the author leaves much up to the imaginations and sentiments of the reader to interpret and make sense of the thoughts and decisions of the main characters. "The Migrant Maya", ultimately uncovers some of the consequences of leaving home that go beyond the risks of jail and deportation, such as the high costs of family disintegration, loss of values, isolation, children scattered to unknown places, psychological damage, pain and death. Some may wonder at the use of the term “migrant”, given the Maya pre-European links to the Americas, but the novel through the lens of “migrant” brings focus to the background of institutionalized colonialism.