IRMA ALICIA VELASQUEZ NIMATUJ (Guatemala)

Of Mayan-K’iche descent, academic, journalist, writer and anthropologist. She is director of the Augsburg University program in Guatemala, Yucatan and Chiapas.

Advisor to several United Nations agencies on issues of racism and rights of indigenous peoples, including UNICEF, UN WOMEN and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Recognized academic by indigenous and non-indigenous groups and communities. She has been a professor at universities in the U.S. such as Stanford, Duke and others. Involved in grassroots and regional organizations in the Americas, including UN Women. In 2020, for her work, she received the Martin Diskin Memorial Lectureship award from LASA/Oxfam America.