"Into the mouth of the wolf": Guatemalan refugees prepare for repatriation

This dissertation is based on one year of fieldwork, conducted in Chiapas, Mexico, and the departments of Quiche and Huehuetenango, Guatemala, from 1991 to 1992. The focus of the investigation is on explaining the attitudes of Guatemalan refugees toward repatriating. It contributes to the refugee studies debate between proponents of forced repatriation, and those who support voluntary repatriation. The main site of the field research was a Guatemalan refugee camp in Chiapas. Most of the refugees in the camp were Kanjobal and Mam Indians. The strategy for collecting data included anthropological methods such as household survey, participant observation, and ethnographic interviewing. Those interviewed for the dissertation include refugees in numerous camps in Chiapas, refugee workers, and Guatemalans who had already repatriated. The dissertation discusses and analyzes many factors influencing the refugees' decision concerning if and when they wanted to repatriate to Guatemala. There is an emphasis on the origins of the refugee crisis, and on various aspects of Kanjobal culture, social structure, and economics as potential influences on the repatriation decision-making process. There is also a description of social, economic, and security conditions in Mexico and Guatemala. Among the specific variables found to have significant associations with attitudes toward repatriation were family structure, ethnicity, gender, and place of origin. Specifically, heads of household living in joint families, Mam Indians, females, and refugees who had lived in the Ixcan region of Guatemala expressed the greatest willingness to repatriate soon and were making plans to do so. The analysis of the data supports voluntary repatriation theory.