Part memoir and part forensic investigation – Textures of Terror is a gripping first-person story of women, violence, and migration out of Guatemala – and how the United States is implicated.  Accompanying Jorge Velásquez in a years-long search for answers after the brutal murder of his daughter Claudina Isabel, Victoria Sanford explores what it means to seek justice in post-conflict countries where violence never ended.

Through this father's determined struggle and other stories of justice denied – Textures of Terror offers a deeper understanding of U.S. policies in Latin America and their ripple effect on migration. Sanford provides an up close appraisal of the workings of the Guatemalan criminal justice system and how it maintains inequality, patriarchy, and impunity. 

Presenting stories of other women who have suffered at the hands of strangers, intimate partners, and security forces – this work reveals the deeply gendered nature of power and violence in Guatemala.

Victoria Sanford is Professor in Lehman College’s Anthropology Department and at CUNY Graduate Center.