Lambelet, Kyle // SLA Profiles (2015) // Blog Network // University of Notre Dame

Name: Kyle Lambelet
E-mail: klambele@nd.edu
Language: Spanish
Location of Study: Guatemala
Program of Study: Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco de Español
Sponsors: Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures

A brief personal bio:

I am a graduate student in a joint PhD program in Moral Theology and Peace Studies. Before returning to graduate school (I received a Masters in Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University in 2012), I worked for the Greensboro Truth & Reconciliation Project in Greensboro, N.C., supporting the first truth and reconciliation commission in the United States. This experience shaped my academic interests in ethics, religion, and peacebuilding. Developing these interests further, my dissertation research examines a transnational solidarity movement that seeks to expose and shift US military policy in Latin America.

Why this summer language abroad opportunity is important to me:

Increasing my Spanish language competency will be indispensable for my scholarly work, in both the near and long term. Regarding the near-term, my dissertation research examines transnational solidarity activism focusing on US military policy in Latin America. While the most common language spoken among my research subjects is English, many speak Spanish as their primary language, and for some their English is quite limited. Conversational Spanish capacity will be a significant asset for building rapport generally and critical for enabling me to access a diverse, bilingual population of research subjects. Furthermore, Latin America is the region of concern for these activists, which will require me to conduct background research in Spanish language texts. Regarding the long-term, I will use facility with Spanish in my research and teaching as an ethicist working on issues of conflict, violence, and social change. While I expect to teach at an institution in the US, I can envision leading global immersion trips to Latin America or using Spanish to engage with the United States’ significant and growing Spanish-speaking immigrant population.

What I hope to achieve as a result of this summer study abroad experience:

As a student at the Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco de Español (PLQE), I expect to develop my capacity for listening, speaking, and researching in Spanish. Immersive language study will allow me to build upon the Spanish reading capacity I have already acquired through self-study. While I currently have an adequate grasp of basic vocabulary and grammar, and with the aid of a dictionary can translate academic texts, my listening, speaking and writing skills are quite limited. Realistically, I’d hope that six weeks of immersion study in Guatemala will allow me a conversational facility with the Spanish language that will enable not only reading competency, but the capacity to conduct independent research and interviews in Spanish.

My specific learning goals for language and intercultural learning this summer:

At the end of the summer, I will be able to communicate in Spanish with native speakers in order to conduct interviews related to my dissertation research.
At the end of the summer, I will be able to narrate the history of US military involvement in Guatemala and identify ways in which Guatemalans and US Americans are challenging US interventions.
At the end of the summer, I will be able to read Spanish language documents, both journalistic and academic, to support by dissertation research.

My plan for maximizing my international language learning experience:

I plan to hit the ground running in two ways. First, I have been brushing up on my Spanish competency by spending at least half an hour every day reviewing vocabulary and grammar. Once the semester concludes, I will have more time to devote to this task, and plan to devote a significant chunk of time to self-study each day. Second, I’ve begun researching Guatemala’s recent history with a particular focus on the civil wars from 1960 to 1996 and their aftermath. While I’m carrying out this research in English, I’ve begun to select key Spanish-language texts that I plan to bring with me as content for language study.

Reflective Journal Entry 1:

While my actual crossing of the customs checkpoint into Guatemala was so smooth that it is hardly worthy of note, the experience of crossing the border has had me thinking about the other boundary crossings that have characterized my journey South. Boundaries of nationality and language figure prominently, but also of culture and class. Staying with my homestay family, I’m constantly discerning the boundaries of guest and host. And with my maestro, I ask questions that might flirt with the boundaries of polite conversation by venturing into the subjects that interest me most: politics and religion.

Two other boundary crossings have captured my thinking. First, as I sat in the Wendy’s in Guatemala City awaiting my bus ride to Quetzaltenango, I was struck, in a quite viceral way, by the porous flow of symbols and materials of global capital across boundaries of nation and language. Wendy crossed South. Later in the week I watched an American animated movie which was dubbed in Spanish with my homestay family. It was a strange experience, much was familiar and much was unfamiliar. I probably caught about 10% of the words and phrases, but I understood the story because the plot, characters, and background assumptions were all familiar. For Carlos and Oscar, the nine and six year old brothers who watched with me, I wonder what it means to walk daily in their Guatemalan reality while seeing images of another. In many ways, life in Guatemala isn’t so different. There are homes, families, toys, tv, food, neighbors. But in important ways it is different. For example, while Marta’s home is lovely, well kept, and functional, it would be evidence of poverty in the US. Little repairs have been delayed or ignored, sparse food in the kitchen, and the tap water is unsafe to drink. It’s the transgression of images, cultural symbols, that I find most interesting. For example, Oscar was building with his plasticina (playdo) and he formed an uncanny representation of an angry bird. Obviously, this isn’t an image with a strong national imprint, but it’s interesting that it crosses borders of nationality and language so readily.

Second, in addition to geographical and cultural borders, I’ve noted also the porous borders of time, between the present and the past, between the past and the future. Earlier this week we watched Tambien La Lluvia (Even the rain) a movie about making a movie in Boliva. A bit meta, I know, but the subject of the film (within the film) was a historical treatment of Columbus’s arrival in “the New World” and the heinous abuses he and his men meted out upon the natives. As the film is being made, the actor playing the lead “native” is organizing a campaign to stop the privatization of water in Bolivia. The layers of connection are perhaps a bit overdone, but the point is clear: the system and spirit of colonialism continues on. Its features are: 1) racist denigration of the humanity of indigenous peoples; 2) expropriation of their lands and resources; 3) justified by paternalistic appeals to uplift, whether with the veneer of Christianity or democracy; 4) all to the benefit of a select class of owners. The structure and spirit of the process of exploitation is the same whether in 1492 or 2000. As William Faulkner noted, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” History continues to live on, in our bones, even when we seem to transcend or escape it.

Of course, it’s my own border crossing that makes the others–of culture, material, and time–apparent. I look forward to noting other ways in which borders and their transgression construct the social and political realities here in Guatemala in the weeks to come.

Reflective Journal Entry 2:

“¡Beinvenido a todo!” Doña Wilma greeted those of us gathered for our cooking class. The table was spread with vegetables, and Doña Wilma announced that we would be making Pepita con Pollo. Pepitas, the mid-sized squash seeds, provide the base for a rich sauce that is spread over vegetables and chicken. Doña Wilma quickly set us to work chopping carrots and squash, peeling garlic, and preparing peppers. As we worked, Doña Wilma informed us that this is a dish that is found in many places across Guatemala. Yet this version, her version, is particular to Quetzaltenango. With seemingly endless energy, Doña Wilma walked us through the paces of prep, coordinating the myriad of activities.

“¿Lo que hace que esta comida especial?” (What makes this food special?) I asked. Doña Wilma responded not by talking about the food, but by talking about the occassions it would be prepared for. She ran through a list of special occassions: quinceñeras, graduations, weddings, even, she said with a smirk and little dance, divorces! What was most important to Doña Wilma was the occassion not the food.

Yet, as we continued, I noted a few ways in which her cooking was distinctive. First, she kept a very clean kitchen. At every step along the way, she made sure to clean up excess dishes, food scraps, and other inevitable messes that result from the cooking tasks. Second, Doña Wilma was as much entertainer-host as she was cook. She made sure that every visitor to her kitchen had a job, and if not a job, at least some conversation. Third, when we sat down to our meal, Doña Wilma’s contentment was visible. After two and a half hours of busy movement, she finally stopped and enjoyed the product of her work. And we did too!

Reflective Journal Entry 3:

Because we had some additional guests in the house this morning, I was up early to use the restroom and then spent an hour or so reading. Having finished I, Rigoberta Menchú, I started Bitter Fruit by Schlesinger and Kinzer. This, now classic, historical treatment of the American coup in Guatemala in 1954 gives an outstanding overview of one of the first significant “anti-communist” interventions in Latin America. Bringing an end to the “Democratic Spring”, a decade of progressive social programs and democratic governance, the coup aimed to reinstate the control of powerful American interests, particularly the United Fruit Company. The clandestine operations of the CIA, and the not-so-clandestine bombing raids of the US airforce and navy, made the coup possible. Schlesinger and Kinzer argue that President Arbenz, a progressive social reformer but not (importantly) a communist, never would have been removed from power had the US not designed and executed the coup, and we can speculate that the country may not have been plunged into the 36 year armed conflict that took over 200,000 lives had the US behaved differently.

With this history as the backdrop, I expected a negative response when I asked my teacher Andre later in the day what Guatemaltecos think of the United States. Yet, his answer was more nuanced. He responded that many Guatemaltecos are asleep, they’ve forgotten the history of their country. But, he noted that many Guatemaltecos have either been to the United States or have family in the US. Remittances from relatives in the US make up a significant portion of Guatemala’s GDP. At this point in time, rather than direct or even clandestine intervention, globalization and consumerism are the most powerful modes in which the US projects its influence. However, Andre also noted that US Ambassador to Guatemala Robinson was booed and shouted down yesterday at a protest calling for election reform. For those Guatemaltecos with a bit of historical consciousness, the US continues to be a viewed with abiding suspicion as an opponent to democratic reform and social justice.

Whereas Andre offered a nuanced survey of views on the US, Raul was less circumspect. Having come of age in the worst years of the war (70s and 80s), Raul resented US intervention and the series of dictators that followed. Particularly, he was spoke of the pain of the years under Rios Montt and his genocidal campaign against the indigenous people of Guatemala. “Es muy triste,” Raul observed.

Speaking from her experience hosting many US students, Maria had yet another view. While she resented the US interventions in Guatemala, noting that her uncle had been forced to flee to exile in Mexico, she had many positive experiences with students who were historically conscious and committed to encouraging relationships of reciprocity and mutual respect.

Given the history of US interventions in Guatemala–installing and supporting brutal regimes that, though friendly to US economic interests, have terrorized their own people–the kindness of my Guatemalan hosts has taken me by surprise. The capacity of these Guatemalans to separate the actions of the powerful in the US from the general citizenry no doubt reflects their own experience of disenfranchisement. Yet, it may be too generous. With this range of responses to the question, “What do you think about the United States?” I’m left wondering about my own responsibilities in the work of undoing the legacy and practices of imperialism. Because we had some additional guests in the house this morning, I was up early to use the restroom and then spent an hour or so reading. Having finished I, Rigoberta Menchú, I started Bitter Fruit by Schlesinger and Kinzer. This, now classic, historical treatment of the American coup in Guatemala in 1954 gives an outstanding overview of one of the first significant “anti-communist” interventions in Latin America. Bringing an end to the “Democratic Spring”, a decade of progressive social programs and democratic governance, the coup aimed to reinstate the control of powerful American interests, particularly the United Fruit Company. The clandestine operations of the CIA, and the not-so-clandestine bombing raids of the US airforce and navy, made the coup possible. Schlesinger and Kinzer argue that President Arbenz, a progressive social reformer but not (importantly) a communist, never would have been removed from power had the US not designed and executed the coup, and we can speculate that the country may not have been plunged into the 36 year armed conflict that took over 200,000 lives had the US behaved differently.

Speaking from her experience hosting many US students, Marta had yet another view. While she resented the US interventions in Guatemala, noting that her uncle had been forced to flee to exile in Mexico, she had many positive experiences with students who were historically conscious and committed to encouraging relationships of reciprocity and mutual respect.

Reflective Journal Entry 4:

Yesterday afternoon I attended una conferencia on “Racismo en Guatemala.” Led by a local university professor, Miguel Barillas, the session treated the history and structure of racism as it impacts the family, the economy, and culture in Guatemala.

Prof. Barillas began by offering a survey of the multiculturalism of Guatemala. He suggested there were twenty-five different people groups in Guatemala, each with its own language and culture. Dominant among these are the Mestizos, or those who have a mixed European and Mayan ancestry, and the Mayans, who can be separated into twenty-two different sub-groups.

The history of the Spanish colonization of Guatemala has determined the structure of the relationships between these peoples. The valorization of racial difference, and more particularly the ideology European-white supremacy, has been used to justify the domination and exploitation of indigenous peoples. A common phrase that Prof. Barillas recalled was “250 extranjeros son mas útiles que 2,500 indios.” (250 foreigners are more helpful than 2,500 Indians).

The Guatemalan oligarchy, the twenty families who rule the country, maintain the purity of their blood (sangre) and its European origins. If they admit indigenous ancestry, they claim that their forebearers were Mayan nobles, chiefs or princesses. When asked what should be done about racial differences in the country, the oligarchs have proposed three solutions. First, they have proposed integration through education. This, they argued, would allow a homogenous national culture to emerge, but would in actuality mean the erasure of indigenous culture. Second, they have proposed “ladinization,” which Prof. Barillas suggested was synonymous with desarrallo (development) and modernization. Different than integration, however, this proposal took up the (racist) suggestion of Miguel Ángel Asturias to purify the blood of the nation by mixing indigenous peoples with “higher” (European/white) races. Third, and this is in fact the purpose of the prior two projects, they have proposed extermination. This was, in reality, the project of the dictator Efrain Rios Montt, a genocidal project of extermination.

The history, structure, and current ideology of racism are much the same in the US, in spite of corrective “multi-culturalism” campaigns. Two differences are primary. First, in the US, we kidnapped and enslaved Africans to work the land and develop the economy. In Guatemala, they forced the Mayans into slave-like conditions. Second, in the US, we were more successful in our genocidal intent through forced migration, internment, and massacre such that Native Americans are often invisible within the majority culture.

Within this history of oppression, exploitation, and violence, Prof. Barillas concluded that he hopes for a truly multicultural nation, as the constitution of Guatemala states. I share his hope, and also believe that only by confronting the history of colonialism and its attendant ideology of white supremacy can a way forward be forged. While the project of multi-culturalism can be a part of that remedial work, such projects (such as integration) are too often coopted by powerful ideologies of racism. Yesterday afternoon I attended una conferencia on “Racismo en Guatemala.” Led by a local university professor, Miguel Barillas, the session treated the history and structure of racism as it impacts the family, the economy, and culture in Guatemala.

Reflective Journal Entry 5:

During my six weeks in Guatemala, I’ve heard countless tragic stories about the history of colonialism, the internal armed conflict (1960-1996) and the ongoing suffering of the people under a system of economic exploitation. From the ex-guerrilla guide who led a hike to a former encampment and told about their difficult life in the mountains; from the teacher and student of the Mayan cosmovision who shared the lacrimous history of Catholic and Spanish suppression of native culture and spirituality; from the professor of history who presented on the “terrorismo del estado” and the system of relationships of patronage and abuse that construct the political economy of Guatemala–each spoke clearly about the historical sources, political function, and social consequences of the practices of violence.

It is difficult to come to speech about the violence of the state, the violence of war, and the violence of economic exploitation. To do so requires, according to Elaine Scarry’s famous thesis, speaking of the unspeakable. It requires pealing back layers of pain that remain unhealed, facing the meaninglessness of suffering and the pain of irreplaceable loss. So, when Don Marcos spoke of his experience of torture at the hands of the Guatemalan government, I received it as a unique gift that carried a burden of responsibility.

The persistence of these bitter gifts has compounded my sense that another violence, very present but often hidden, is spoken of only in hushed voice. The experience of domestic violence has haunted my experience of Guatemala. Primarily, this is due to the recent history of my host family. Marta, a single mom, suffered domestic abuse by her ex-spouse for several years. The abuse culminated in a horrific episode of violence when she was seven months pregnant with her third child. Thankfully, her baby is healthy and happy, but Marta continues to suffer the consequences of her ex’s abuse, including needing an expensive surgery for a fissure in her eye caused by a punch.

If the violence was committed only against Marta, it would be a tragic aberration. But, as Johan Galtung argued, when 1,000 women are abused by 1,000 men, we are observing a situation of structural violence. This is a situation compounded by silence, where Marta can only whisper “un golpe.” What will it take to produce a ceasefire in the war against women? A start in Guatemala would be the capacity to come to speech about the persistence such of violence.

Reflective Journal Entry 6:

At the end of every week at Proyecto Linguistica Quetzalteco, there is a graduation where students who are departing share a song, dance, poem, or speech. I shared the following discurso at graduation (with a translation following):

Me gustaría hablar por un momento sobre las palabras. Mientras aprendo un segundo idioma, yo he aprendido la importancia de las palabras. Por ejemplo, durante mi segunda semana en Xela, le dije mi amiga graciosa y paciente Carolina que, “Voy a una vieja.” Por supuesta, yo intenté decir que iba a un viaje, no que iba montar a una vieja. Vieja, viaje, palabras que son similares pero muy diferentes.

Las palabras son importantes. Otro ejemplo: Yo estuve muy confundido en mi tercer semana cuando mi maestro inteligente y amable Saul hizo una solicitud poco extraño. Mientras estábamos haciendo nuestra lección, Saul me pidió leer con voz alta. Yo pensé que le gustó hablar ARRIBA AQUÍ, EN VOZ ALTA ¿NO?

Entonces, las palabras son importantes. Pero, mas seriamente, las palabras construyen nuestro mundo, y las palabras las palabras tiene significado porque ellas se ponen en contexto. Y el contexto de las palabras que he aprendido aquí ha sido rico con significado. Aquí he recibido nuevas palabras y nuevos amigos, también. Gracias por mis maestras y maestros, la administración, los estudiantes, y las muchas otras personas quien hacen al P L Q una posibilidad. Particularmente, gracias a mis maestras y maestros–Miguel, Daniel, Saul, Lupita, Domingo, y Sonja. Sus historias personales, análisis políticos, y vidas hermosas son una inspiración para mi, y voy a llevarlos con migo cuando regrese a mi casa en los estados unidos.

Gracias a todos. Gracias por me enseñarme la importancia de las palabras.

I would like to talk for a moment about words. While learning a second language, I have learned the importance of words. For example, during my second week in Xela, I told my gracious and patient friend Carolina, “I’m going on an old woman (vieja).” Of course, I intended to say that I was going on a trip (viaje), not that I was going to ride an old woman. Old woman, trip, two words very similar (en español) but very different.

Words are important. Another example: I was very confused in my third week here when my intelligent and friendly teacher Sual made a strange request. While we were doing our lesson, Saul asked me to read in “voz alta” (literally high voice). I thought that he wanted me to speak UP HERE, IN MY FALSETTO!

Words are important. But, more seriously, words construct our world, and words have significance because they are placed in context. And the context of the words that I have learned here have been rich with significance. Here, I have received new words and new friends, as well. Thank you to my teachers, the administration, the students, and the many other people that make PLQ possible. Particularly, thanks to my teachers–Miguel, Daniel, Saul, Lupita, Domingo, and Sonja. Your personal stories, political analysis, and beautiful lives are an inspiration for me. I will carry them with me as I return my home in the US.

Thank you everybody. Thank you for teaching me the importance of words.

Reflection on my language learning and intercultural gains:

Learning Spanish at Proyecto Linguistico in Quetzaltenango was an amazing gift. It was at some times exhausting and at other times exhilarating. But, six weeks provided enough time to move through the adrenaline of arrival and sink into the language and culture with a bit, however small, of familiarity. Of course, six weeks is a relatively short period of time, and, in retrospect, was hardly enough to gain the level of competency that I hoped for. Yet, it was sufficient to cover the basic structure of the Spanish language and, more importantly, to create the linkages between language, history, and culture that I hope will help to solidify my still developing Spanish capacities. In one of my last days in Quetzaltenango, I was surprised to experience one small measure of my language acquisition. Sitting with the boys in my homestay, we watched the same movie I had watched with them on my second day there. I was pleased to note that I understood most of the dialogue! While it’s no scientific test, it was evidence for me of the distance I had come.

Reflection on my summer language abroad experience overall:

If it was only for language learning, my time in Quetzaltenango would have been well spent. But, more than simply acquisition of words and grammar, I learned volumes about the history and culture of Guatemala. I could have read about some these things in books, and I did read a number of books on Guatemala’s sad history of civil war and the US interventions that exacerbated the conflict. However, it’s another thing to walk into the mountains with an ex-guerilla and see a camp where he stayed, to sit at the feet of a torture survivor and hear his story through broken teeth, and to share table, day after day, with a woman putting her life back together after the dissolution of domestic violence. These visceral learnings have marked me in ways that I will continue to process for a long time to come.

How I plan to use my language and intercultural competences

I chose Proyecto Linguistico with the thought that it would be at least indirectly helpful to my dissertation work because of the school’s curricular focus on history and politics. I couldn’t have been more pleased. The conversations I had with my teachers and fellow students will feed directly into my dissertation. As I begin my writing and research, my language and cultural competencies gained in Guatemala will have a direct bearing on the shape and direction of my work. More distantly, I’ve also begun to think about other potential projects, both research and teaching, that could bring me back to Guatemala. My hope is that my departure from Guatemala concludes not with “adios” but “hasta luego!”