Giovanni Batz was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and is the son of Guatemalan working-class immigrants and paternal grandson of K’iche’ Maya. His research interests include extractivist industries and megaprojects in Latin America, Guatemalan-Maya migration, displacement and diaspora, indigenous social movements, and human rights. Batz received his PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently a 2018–2019 Anne Ray Fellow at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is working on a book project entitled “The Fourth Invasion: Ixil-Maya Resistance to Megaprojects and the Struggle for Autonomy in Guatemala,” based on research conducted in Cotzal, Guatemala since 2011. Batz has also worked with Guatemalan-Maya youth in Los Angeles and conducted research on the migration of K’iche’-Maya from Almolonga, Quetzaltenango.