Sobre la(s) autora(s) y la
obra
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Rigoberta
Menchú-Tum
o
Guatemala,
Maya-Quiché, 1959-present
o
Controversy over authorship – Rigoberta’s
testimony was transcribed by Elizabeth Burgos (David Stoll did a lot of research about this controversy, proving that some of what Rigo said wasn't 100% true)
o
She was a youth during the Guatemalan civil war
o
She went into exile in 1981, and narrated this
text a year later in 1982
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Novel is important as a testimonio and also as a
reflection (in literature) of the brutalities and racism of the militant Guatemalan
government of the time
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This book made Rigoberta an international icon
at the time that the conflict was still going on in Guatemala
Contexto Político y Social
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The Guatemalan
Civil War ran from 1960 to 1996. It was mostly fought between the government
of Guatemala and various leftist rebel groups supported chiefly by ethnic Mayan
indigenous people and Ladino peasants, who together make up the rural poor. The
government forces of Guatemala have been condemned for committing genocide
against the Mayan population of Guatemala during the civil war and for
widespread human rights violations against civilians.
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Lots of racism and discrimination against
indigenous (Mayan) peoples
Comps Example Questions
- Testimonio. Taking two representative works, contextualize the emergence of this genre in Latin America and specify how it differs from other literary expressions (e.g. modernismo, vanguardia, boom and postboom). Works: Menchú -Burgos and.open choice from the other literary genres. OR A comparasion between J.F. Manzano’s authobiography and Menchú’s testimonio.
- Discuss Central American authors/works: context, cultural, ideological and aesthetic relationships and differences: Asturias, Menchú-Burgos, Argueta and Cardenal
- Indigenous thought in J.M. Arguedas and Menchú-Burgos
- The development of Spanish American identity and issues of race, class, and gender in numerous authors, from modernismo to the present (although they occur earlier as well). Authors: Agustini, Arguedas, Argueta, Storni, Burgos, Castellanos, Cardenal, Ferré, Berman, Álvarez, Williams, Puig, Barba Jacob, Sarduy, Menchú, Alzandúa, Paz, Fernández Retamar, Galeano, Rama, etc. Some suggested readings: Foster and Altamiranda, Cornejo Polar, Meyer, Castillo, Stabb, Martin, Kaminsky, Beverly and others under testimonio.
What Cambridge Companion: Latin
America says (Chapters 4 & 8)
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Most famous example of a testimonio (91)
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Provoked many debates about the authenticity of
the “testimonio” genre (91)
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“while testimonio gives voice to the ordinary or
marginalized people, it risks setting up the same tensions between presentation
and reality that characterized the earlier fiction it seemed to be a reaction
against” (91)
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The “classic” of the testimonial genre (172)
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Possibility that it fictionalizes personal and
historical truths in order to dramatize its political message (172)
Ideas/thoughts about the testimonial genre in general (Cambridge L.A.
Chaps 4 & 8)
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Emergence of the testimonio and the New Historical
Novel between the 1970s and 1990s (91)
o
Both reinforce the impression of a greater
emphasis on the direct presentation of social reality
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Testimonio = “kind of autobiography told by
another, usually more educated and narratively gifted, person” (91)
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“while testimonio gives voice to the ordinary or
marginalized people, it risks setting up the same tensions between presentation
and reality that characterized the earlier fiction it seemed to be a reaction
against” (91)
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“A mode of non-fictional, documentary narrative
known as testimonio characterized the last half of the twentieth century,
particularly in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, the three republics that
endured the immediate traumas of revolution, post-revolution, or civil war”
(171)
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“The principal feature of testimonial writing is
that the narrators are also participants who feel an urgent need to ‘bear
witness’ to their time and place and history” (171-172)
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“Testimonial fiction” tends to privilege the
voices of the subaltern (gah, Spivak flashback!) (172)
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** Me
llamo Rigoberta serves as a classic example of the testimonio genre!
Temas/ideas importantes
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Estilo de escritura
o
Rigoberta is first-person narrator
o
Narration transcribed by Elizabeth Burgos
o
Unreliable narrator?
§
“I don’t remember”
§
Says some things are secret
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Genre: Testimonio
o
Narration of someone else’s story
§
Burgos writes Rigoberta’s story
§
Rigoberta writes her pueblo’s story
o
Idea of community voice – Rigoberta speaks for
her pueblo
o
Idea of presenting a marginalized subject (the
Quiche people) and exposing social injustice
o
Idea of the need to bear witness to the
cruelties of the Guatemalan government of the time
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Indigenous culture
o
Focus on customs and traditions
§
Example: entire chapter (III) on nahual
§
Several descriptions of ceremonies and practices
for special occasions (such as birthdays, weddings, and deaths)
o
Some descriptions of religious beliefs and
practices
§
Thoughts about the differences between
indigenous religion and Catholicism, and the effects of Catholicism on the
people
§
They seem to embrace some aspects of
Christianity, but also don’t give up their own original beliefs (rather, they seem
to combine the two)
o
Also describes conventional habits/customs
amongst pueblo – how families interact and work, how marriages go, how chores
are done, how children (boys and girls separately) act, etc.
§
Description of foods and how they are made (ex:
tortillas)
o
Emphasis on continuing past traditions,
respecting ancestors and history/tradition
o
Emphasis on respect for nature and natural life
cycles
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Racism/discrimination
o
Against indigenous
§
Unfair working conditions (especially at fincas)
§
Various misunderstandings due to language
barrier
§
Unfair dealings over land in particular – they want
to steal indigenous people’s land and the indios don’t understand enough to
defend it legally
o
Indigenous against ladinos and whites
§
Blame them for what has gone wrong in the pueblo
§
Idea of need of keeping indigenous secrets from
ladinos
o
Cultural divide between indigenous and
ladinos/government
§
Elections
§
Altiplano vs. finca
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Gender
o
Women had it particularly bad; their life was
harder. Also women were frequently victims of violence (rape)
o
Men were seemingly preferred in some indigenous
customs – Rigoberta seems to feel need to justify this at times
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Political situation – civil war
o
Depiction of violence
§
Examples: the torture and murder of Rigoberta’s
little brother; later, the death of her mother and father
§
Rape of many women and murder of many indigenous
people
o
Descriptions of how the indigenous people tried
to defend themselves and their lands (Rigoberta helped in organizing this
defense)
Incredible Plot Summary – Thanks Sparknotes!
During a visit to Paris as part of the Guatemalan political
organization known as “the 31 January Popular Front,” Rigoberta Menchu meets
Venezuelan anthropologist Elisabeth Burgos-Debray and agrees to tell her life
story so that it can be transformed into a book. The two work feverishly for
several days, Burgos-Debray questioning Rigoberta, who tells her story in Spanish,
her second language. The result is several hours’ worth of recorded interviews
that Burgos-Debray transcribes and arranges as I, Rigoberta Menchu.
As far back as Rigoberta, a Quiche Indian, can recall, her
life has been split between the highlands of Guatemala, known as the Altiplano,
and low country plantations, or fincas. Each year, she and her family spend
about eight months at the fincas working for ladinos, Guatemalans of
Spanish descent. Starvation and malnutrition are constants at the finca, and
the Indians are routinely sprayed with pesticides. Rigoberta and her people
find respite in the months they spend in their small village in the Altiplano
that they call home. In the deeply wooded Altiplano, Rigoberta’s life centers
around the ceremonies and traditions of her community, many of which celebrate
the natural world. At the fincas, she and her people struggle to survive in
cramped, miserable conditions at the mercy of wealthy landowners and their
overseers. They move between the two worlds each year in a truck covered with a
tarp, and by the time she is eight years old, Rigoberta is already a hard
worker, capable of picking several pounds of coffee each day.
Though she lives in a traditional Indian society,
Rigoberta’s awareness of a world beyond the finca and the Altiplano begins to
dawn when she is still quite young. When her younger brother, Nicolas, dies of
malnutrition while at the finca, Rigoberta begins to feel both angry and afraid
of what the future will hold for her. Visiting Guatemala City, the capital of
Guatemala, with her father, whom she idolizes, Rigoberta is at once terrified
and compelled. As she grows older and begins to develop a conscience, Rigoberta
starts to yearn for change, both for herself and for her community. She craves
education and wishes above all to learn to speak Spanish so that she can
explore the world outside of the Altiplano and the finca. Though she begins to
follow in her father’s footsteps and take on leadership duties in her
community, she also yearns to learn about the world and its people.
When she’s offered a job as a maid at the home of a wealthy
landowner in Guatemala City, Rigoberta leaps at the opportunity, hoping she’ll
get a chance to master Spanish. Immediately upon arriving in Guatemala City,
however, she understands the discrimination that exists for people of her
heritage. At the landowner’s home, even the dog is treated better than she. The
most influential force in Rigoberta’s life as she figures out the various
household tasks is Candelaria. Like Rigoberta, Candelaria is an Indian, yet she
has learned to speak Spanish and dresses as a ladino. She has also figured out
how to get under the mistress’s skin and routinely sabotages her by neglecting
certain chores and talking back. When Rigoberta’s father comes to the
mistress’s house and asks for money, Candelaria convinces the mistress to
contribute. Rigoberta doesn’t follow in Candelaria’s footsteps right away, but
Candelaria’s rebellious spirit has an impact on her that continues even after
Candelaria is booted out of the house.
Upon returning from her work in the capital, Rigoberta finds
out that her father has been jailed because he refused to cooperate with ladino
landowners who attempt to claim the land in the Altiplano where Rigoberta’s
community lives. This is the first of several times that Rigoberta’s father is
jailed, and Rigoberta and her siblings work constantly to free him for good.
After the landowners and the government repeatedly hoodwink the Indians, the
Indians decide to defend their lands and rebel against the Guatemalan powers.
Led in part by Rigoberta’s father, they form the Peasant Unity Committee, or
CUC, to pool their resources against the powerful ladino government and
business owners. By this time, Rigoberta has taken a leadership role in her
community, and she and the rest of her family play a major part in helping the
Indians develop strategies to defend their lands against the Guatemalan army.
The Indians rely on simple weapons such as traps and knives to fight back, and they
are inspired in their cause by the Bible’s stories of disenfranchised
populations and people.
After securing her own people’s holdings, Rigoberta goes on
the road as a representative of the CUC, helping Indian communities secure
their lands and outsmart the Guatemalan army. As the CUC becomes increasingly
influential, Rigoberta and her family find themselves more at risk. First,
Rigoberta’s brother, Petrocinio, is kidnapped and burned alive while
Rigoberta’s entire family and village are forced to watch. Then Rigoberta’s
father leads an offensive on Guatemala City and is killed along with a group of
protesters while storming the Spanish Embassy. Finally, Rigoberta’s mother is
kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered. Rigoberta responds by renouncing marriage
and motherhood and becoming more involved in the peasant cause, leading strikes
and other rebellious actions until she finds herself in danger and is forced
into exile. Though Rigoberta’s sisters join the guerilla army to fight for the
rights of Guatemala’s Indian peasants, Rigoberta decides to take a diplomatic
route, telling stories of her people and putting legislation into place as a
way of furthering the rights of Indians.
