A public scholar, anthropologist and internationally recognized expert on the Guatemalan Genocide, Dr. Victoria Sanford is a writer, human rights advocate and Lehman Professor of Excellence at Lehman College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Professor Sanford will discuss the weaponization of the Guatemalan judicial system, gender violence and migration in a conversation about her new book Textures of Terror that investigates the unsolved murder of a female law student and the pervasive violence against Guatemalan women that drives migration. Through a father’s determined struggle and other stories of justice denied, Textures of Terror offers a deeper understanding of US Policies in Latin America and their ripple effect on migration. Professor Sanford offers an up-close appraisal of the inner workings of the Guatemalan criminal justice system and how it maintains inequality, patriarchy and impunity. Presenting the stories of other women who have suffered at the hands of strangers, intimate partners and the security forces, she reveals the deeply gendered nature of power and violence in Guatemala. She will offer an overview of the possibilities and limitations for reform under the government of newly elected President Bernardo Arevalo who won the presidency on an anti-corruption platform and brought hopes of a new Democratic Spring.