Voices from Exile

Elilal, exile, is the condition of thousands of Mayas who have fled their homelands in Guatemala to escape repression and even death at the hands of their government. In this book, Victor Montejo, who is both a Maya expatriate and an anthropologist, gives voice to those who until now have struggled in silence--but who nevertheless have found ways to reaffirm and celebrate their Mayaness. Voices from Exile is the authentic story of one group of Mayas from the Kuchumatan highlands who fled into Mexico and sought refuge there. Montejo's combination of autobiography, history, political analysis, and testimonial narrative offers a profound exploration of state terror and its inescapable human cost.

Victor Montejo is Associate Professor in the Department of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of El Q'anil: The Man of Lightning, Testimony: The Death of a Guatemalan Village, The Bird Who Cleans the World and Other Mayan Fables, and Sculpted Stones: Poems.