Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

My practice of anthropology is guided by the constant development of trust, disclosure, and collaboration. I will discuss how trust was fostered and disclosure deployed in a multi-year collaboration to obtain legalization for indigenous Mayans from Guatemala who for more than thirty years remained stateless in Mexico. I will identify how reduced legal options to regularize status created barriers to political, economic, and cultural incorporation in Mexico and left significant family members--documented and undocumented alike—vulnerable to deportations and family separations. I will also highlight our success to obtain legal status for twenty-six stateless subjects in late 2016. My practice of …