Giovanni Batz Headshot

Associate Professor

gbatz@ucsb.edu

1723 South Hall

About

Specialization:

Maya social movements and resistance, extractivist industries, migration, and forced displacement, Guatemala, Central American Studies, U.S.-Mexico border


Education:

Ph.D. Social Anthropology, 2017, University of Texas at Austin.
 
M.A. Latin American Studies, 2010, University of Texas at Austin.
 
B.A. Political Science and Minor in History, 2008, California State University at Northridge.


Bio:

Dr. Giovanni Batz has researched and published on Maya history, culture, society, and identity, extractivist industries in Guatemala, and Guatemalan-Maya transnational migration to the US. He is the author of The Fourth Invasion: Decolonizing Histories, Extractivism, and Maya Resistance in Guatemala (University of California Press 2024), which is based on more than a decade of ethnographic research and examines an Ixil Maya community’s movement against the construction of one of the largest hydroelectric plants in Guatemala.

Batz is the recipient of the prestigious 2025-2026 Harold J. Plous Award, which is presented annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding performance and promise as measured by creative action or contribution to the intellectual life of the university community.

Batz has served as an expert witness in asylum cases. He has been featured, interviewed, or quoted in several media outlets such as Democracy Now!, Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the Border Report, the Nation, among others. Most recently, he was interviewed and took part in the documentary Borderland: The Line Within (Skylight 2024), which explores the border industrial complex at the US-Mexico border.

Before arriving to UCSB, Batz was a 2020-2022 President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis, and a 2018-2019 Anne Ray Fellow at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Batz was previously a Visiting Assistant Professor at Miami University in Ohio, and New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.

Publications:

Book cover for The Fourth Invasion: Decolonizing Histories, Extractivism, and Maya Resistance in Guatemala by Giovanni Batz. The background features a vibrant photograph of a lush, green, mountainous Guatemalan landscape under a partly cloudy sky. The book's title is prominently displayed in large, bold, dark gray block letters across the center, with a traditional four-colored Maya medicine wheel or compass symbol integrated into the letter " o "

Books

Batz, Giovanni. 2024. The Fourth Invasion: Decolonizing Histories, Megaprojects, and Ixil Maya Resistance in Guatemala. University of California Press. https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520401730/the-fourth-invasion 
*Winner of the 2025 Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American Studies’ Thomas McGann Book Prize in Modern Latin American History

Batz, Giovanni. 2022. La Cuarta Invasión: Historias y Resistencia del Pueblo Ixil, y su Lucha contra la Hidroeléctrica Palo Viejo en Cotzal, Quiché, Guatemala. Guatemala: Asociación para el Avance de las Ciencias Sociales en Guatemala. https://avancso.org.gt/publicaciones/proximas-publicaciones/

 

Articles/Chapters

Batz, Giovanni. 2024. "The Four Dispossessions: Invasion, Historical Maya Displacements, and Extractivist Violence in Guatemala". LASA Forum, Vol. 55(1): 16-21. https://forum.lasaweb.org/files/vol55-issue1/dossier-3.pdf

Batz, Giovanni. 2024. "As Guatemalan Democracy Falters, Indigenous Communities Stand Their Ground". NACLA Report on the Americas. 56(3): 234-240. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10714839.2024.2388391

Heidbrink, Laruen, Giovanni Batz and David W. Barillas Chón. 2024. “Forced Family Separation: U.S. crimes against Indigenous Peoples”. Maya America. Vol. 6(1): Pgs. 1-25. https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mayaamerica/vol6/iss1/9/

Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Covid 19, EE.UU. y Violencia Contra Migrantes de Guatemala”. In Incertidumbres y Horizontes: Ensayos sobre Covid-19. Edited by Ana María Cofiño and Alejandro Flores. Guatemala: Ediciones del Pensativo.

Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Guatemala’s Democracy in Tatters”. NACLA Report on the Americas. 55(2): 110-113. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10714839.2023.2213048

Batz, Giovanni. 2022. “State Violence and Democratic Deficiencies 25 Years After Guatemala’s Peace Accords”. Democracy and Autocracy. Vol. 20(2): 30-35. https://connect.apsanet.org/s35/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2022/08/Democracy-and-Autocracy_Aug-2022_Challenging_Autocracy_and_Impunity_updated.pdf

Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “La Universidad Ixil y la Descolonización del Conocimiento”. Maya America. Vol. 3(2): Pgs. 112-126. https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mayaamerica/vol3/iss1/9/

Heidbrink, Laruen, Giovanni Batz and Celeste Sanchez. 2021. “Why would anyone leave?”: Development, Overindebtedness, and Migration in Guatemala”. Maya America. Vol. 3(3): Pgs. 5-25. https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mayaamerica/vol3/iss3/3/

Heidbrink, Laruen, Giovanni Batz and Celeste Sanchez. 2021. “¿Por qué alguien se iría?": Desarrollo, Sobreendeudamiento y Migración en Guatemala”. Maya America. Vol. 3(3): Pgs. 26-48. https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mayaamerica/vol3/iss3/3/

Batz, Giovanni. 2020. “Ixil Maya Resistance against Megaprojects in Cotzal, Guatemala”. Theory and Event. Vol. 23(4): Pgs. 1016-1036. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/767879

Batz, Giovanni. 2018. “The Ixil University and the Decolonization of Knowledge”. In Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education, edited by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Eve Tuck, and K. Wayne Yang. New York: Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429505010-7/ixil-university-decolonization-knowledge-giovanni-batz

Batz, Giovanni. 2018. “La Lucha contra Megaproyectos en la Región Ixil y la Violaciones de los Derechos Indígenas”. Pensar Guatemala Desde la Resistencia: El Neoliberalismo Enfrentado, edited by Prensa Comunitaria. Guatemala: F&G Editores. 

Batz, Giovanni. 2014. “Maya Cultural Resistance in Los Angeles: The Recovery of Identity and Culture among Maya Youth”. Latin American Perspectives. Vol. 41(3): Pgs. 194-207. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24573923

Batz, Giovanni. 2014. “Military Factionalism and the Consolidation of Power in 1960s Guatemala”. In Beyond the Shadow of the Eagle: New Histories of Latin America’s Cold War. Edited by Virginia Garrard-Burnett, Mark Lawrence, and Julio Moreno. University of New Mexico Press. 

 

Other Publications

Batz, Giovanni. 2025. “Criminalization and Judicial Terrorism against Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/criminalization-and-judicial-terrorism-against-indigenous-peoples-in-guatemala/
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2025. “Criminalización y Terrorismo Judicial contra Pueblos Indígenas en Guatemala”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/criminalizacion-y-terrorismo-judicial-contra-pueblos-indigenas-en-guatemala/
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Extractive Industries in Guatemala: Historic Maya Resistance Movements”. ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Spring Issue.https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/extractive-industries-in-guatemala-historic-maya-resistance-movements/
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Industrias extractivas en Guatemala: Movimientos históricos de resistencia maya”. ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Spring Issue. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/extractive-industries-in-guatemala-historic-maya-resistance-movements/
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “La democracia guatemalteca hecha jirones”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/la-democracia-guatemalteca-hecha-jirones
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Thelma Cabrera: ‘We Are Fighting for a Plurinational State and Well-being of the Peoples’”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/thelma-cabrera-we-are-fighting-plurinational-state-and-well-being-peoples
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2023. “Thelma Cabrera: ‘Estamos luchando por un Estado plurinacional para el bien vivir de los pueblos’”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/thelma-cabrera-estamos-luchando-por-un-estado-plurinacional-para-el-bien-vivir
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2022. “Violation of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights at the U.S.-Mexico Border”. Spotlight Report on the Borderlands: How Racism, Militarization, and Surveillance Create a Human Rights Crisis on the U.S.- Mexico Border. Pp. 21-26. Edited by National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. https://spotlight.nnirr.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Spotlight-Report-on-the-US-Mexico-Borderlands_WEB.pdf
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2022. “25 Years After the Peace Accords, Democracy Weak in Guatemala”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/25-years-after-peace-accords-democracy-weak-guatemala
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2022. “A 25 Años de los Acuerdos de Paz, Democracia Débil en Guatemala”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/25-anos-de-los-acuerdos-de-paz-democracia-debil-en-guatemala
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “U.S. Policy Toward Central America Continues Legacy of Displacement”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/news/2021/04/28/us-policy-central-america-migration-displacement
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “La política de EE. UU. hacia Centroamérica continúa el legado del desplazamiento”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/news/2021/04/29/ee-uu-centroamerica-migracion-desplazamiento
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “Guatemala’s National Strike Demands Structural Change”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/guatemala%E2%80%99s-national-strike-demands-structural-change
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2021. “El Paro Nacional de Guatemala Exige un Cambio Estructural”. North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/paro-nacional-guatemala-exige-cambio-estructural
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2019. "Alliance for Prosperity?". Hot Spots, Fieldsights, https://culanth.org/fieldsights/alliance-for-prosperity
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2019. "¿Alianza Para la Prosperidad?". Hot Spots, Fieldsights, https://culanth.org/fieldsights/alliance-for-prosperity
 
Batz, Giovanni. 2019-2021. Bilingual Column for Plaza Pública (Guatemala) / Columna Bilingüe para Plaza Pública (Guatemala). 

 


Courses:

Upcoming Courses

Summer Session B 2026

  • CH STW 116: Maya History and Resistance - Online
  • LAIS 101: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the History and Societies of Latin America and Iberia 

Fall 2026

  • CH ST 1A: Introduction to Chicana/o Studies - History

Previous Courses Taught

CH ST 109: Indigenous Peoples and the Nation State in the Americas 

CH ST 141: Central Americans in the United States

CH ST 189: Immigration and the U.S.-Mexico Border

CH ST 191GB: Maya History and Resistance

CH ST 191J: Environmental Justice in Central America

CH ST 191UI: UCSB-Universidad Ixil (Guatemala): Caminos Futuros

CH STW 116: Maya History and Resistance - Online

LAIS 101: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the History and Societies of Latin America and Iberia