“I Rigoberta” and the Politics of
Discourse
• "For common people such as myself,
there is no difference between
testimony, biography, and
autobiography ... What we do is tell
what we have lived, not just alone"
(Menchu, 1999).
Rigoberta Menchu
• 1959
• Quiche maya
• CUC (Committee of
the Peasant Union)
• RUOG
• 1992: Nobel Peace
Prize
"What has happened to me has
happened to many other people
too: My story is the story of all
poor Guatemalans. My
personal experience is the
reality of a whole people”
(menchu, 1983: 1).
The allegations
• The land story a family feud not a
government action
• Educated in Schools not self-taught
• No evidence of death by starvation of
brother Nicholas
"It tells my personal testimony, but it
also has parts of the testimony of the
collectiveness of Guatemala," she said.
"For common people such as myself,
there is no difference between testimony,
biography, and autobiography ... What
we do is tell what we have lived, not just
alone."
The origins of testimonials
•
•
•
•
•
Move away from documentary reportage
Eyewitness story: individual, collective
Linked to social context
Critique structures of power
Latin american Fiction and documentary
reportage
• Different form and content