Carlos Fredy Ochoa studied conflict resolution at Uppsala University. His master's and doctoral studies were in anthropology at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He is a specialist in Mayan societies, their oral tradition, authority systems and customary law and has a particular interest in 15th century Mesoamerica. He is currently a professor of peace and security at the School of Political Science and director of the Institute of Political and Social Research at the University of San Carlos de Guatemala. He has been a Fulbright Laspau Fellow (USA) and a Chiba Fellow (Oñati, Spain).

Publications

In press. Mediating Conflicts between Groups with Different Worldviews: Approaches and Methods. Center for Security Studies - ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

2017. Reforma política. Las propuestas de las organizaciones indígenas. Guatemala: Asociación de Investigación y Estudios Sociales.

2016. Buenabaj, El relato de los Títulos Nijaib’. Guatemala: Aporte para la Descentralización Cultural-Adesca-Cholsamaj.

2014. Diálogo señal de nuestra existencia. Concepción uso y manejo del diálogo por autoridades indígenas. Guatemala: Asociación de Investigación y Estudios Sociales.

2013. Alcaldías indígenas, 10 años después de su reconocimiento por el Estado. Guatemala: Asociación de Investigación y Estudios Sociales.

2011. Guía de visita a la zona arqueológica de Iximche’. Guatemala: Cholsamaj.

2011 (con Jan Hessbrugge). Mayan law in post conflict Guatemala. In: Deborah Isser (Ed). Customary justice and rule of law in war-torn societies. Washington: United State Institute of Peace.

Research project as a fellow of CALAS (transatlantic tandem with Carlos Alberto Haas).

Title: Dialogues to revive the future, or how to "jump over my own shadow"? (original: Diálogos para revivir el futuro, o ¿cómo “saltar sobre mi propia sombra”?)

Abstract: The project examines through a historical and anthropological perspective how actors interact in Central America whose ideas of conflict resolution, their self-understanding and their visions of the world and the space in which they move are fundamentally different. On the one hand, it is about cultural conceptions and political traditions that the Maya-k'iche' of Guatemala have about conflict, dialogue, agreement and mediation and the device of community and identity they generate. On the other hand, it is a Western-European concept in the broadest sense.  Three steps are followed:

1. Examine the two concepts of conflict resolution in so far as they played a role in Central American contexts. We then consider what broader traditions they can be integrated into? How exactly do the actors relate to the concepts and what practices they translate them into?

2. Ask what constructions of identity and notions of spatial order are associated with these conflict resolution strategies. What is the self-image of the respective actors?

3. Explore how these two concepts are related. To what extent was this encounter marked by asymmetries and inequalities of power, by coercion and structural or direct violence? Conversely, to what extent was it possible for the respective actors to question their attitudes and possibly relativize them?