Chris Gjording papers
bulk 1977-1991
The papers of Chris Gjording primarily document his research and activities in Central America, particularly his research on the Guaymíes and the Cerro Colorado copper mining project in Chiriquí, Panama. Materials pertaining to Panama include Gjording's field notes (portions of which are missing due to severe insect infestation); photographs; reference materials he collected; and his writings, which include his articles, dissertation, and drafts of his dissertation revised for publication. In addition to his work in Panama are his field notes and photographs from his research on campesino communities in Guatemala and El Salvador. Gjording also kept subject files on Latin American countries, focusing on the poor and oppressed and the social and political climate. His writings on those subjects are present in the collection and include a draft of his unpublished paper on peasant uprising in El Salvador and issues of Informacciónes, the Spanish-language newsletter that Gjording published and wrote articles for in Honduras. The collection also contains correspondence and notes relating to his visits to the Guatemalan Indian refugee camps in Los Lirios and Maya Balam in Quintana Roo in Mexico. In addition, the collection contains some of his correspondence with his mentor Ricardo Falla, a Guatemalan Jesuit priest and anthropologist, whom he refers to as "RF" in his notes. The collection also contains computer disks with chapters in Spanish from Falla's book on Ixcán, possibly Masacres de la selva: Ixcán, Guatemala, 1975-1982 (1992).
