The Rigoberta Menchu Controversy
The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy
I, Rigoberta Menchú at first seems like an autobiography, but that is not what it is meant to be. Menchú wrote the book as a testimony of her people's lives to be a voice for her people and show the world what is going on. There was a lot of controversy about whether Rigoberta deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, and if this book should be taught to students. There are allegations that she fabricated a lot of the story. People say that the book is not an accurate portrayal of her life. Considering that Menchú said, "I'd like to stress that it's not only my life, it's also the testimony of my people", the reader should know that this book was not meant to be an autobiography. Menchú powerfully explains the conflicts between Ladinos and Indians, landowners and peasants, the government and the resistance, men and women, and change and tradition. Rigoberta Menchú was born on January 9, 1959 to a poor Indian peasant family and raised in the Quiche branch of the Mayan culture. In her early years she helped with the family farm work, either in the northern highlands where her family lived, or on the Pacific coast, where both adults and children went to pick coffee on the big plantations. Rigoberta Menchú soon became involved in social reform activities through the Catholic Church, and became prominent in the women's rights movement when still only a teenager. Such reform work aroused considerable opposition in influential circles, especially after a guerilla organization established itself in the area. The Menchú family was accused of taking part in guerrilla activities and Rigoberta's father, Vicente, was imprisoned and tortured for allegedly having participated in the execution of a local plantation owner. After his release, he joined the recently founded Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC). In 1983, she told her life story to Elisabeth Burgos Debray. The book is called, I, Rigoberta Menchú, it is an interesting document which
I, Rigoberta Menchú at first seems like an autobiography, but that is not what it is meant to be. Menchú wrote the book as a testimony of her people's lives to be a voice for her people and show the world what is going on. There was a lot of controversy about whether Rigoberta deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, and if this book should be taught to students. There are allegations that she fabricated a lot of the story. People say that the book is not an accurate portrayal of her life. Considering that Menchú said, "I'd like to stress that it's not only my life, it's also the testimony of my people", the reader should know that this book was not meant to be an autobiography. Menchú powerfully explains the conflicts between Ladinos and Indians, landowners and peasants, the government and the resistance, men and women, and change and tradition. Rigoberta Menchú was born on January 9, 1959 to a poor Indian peasant family and raised in the Quiche branch of the Mayan culture. In her early years she helped with the family farm work, either in the northern highlands where her family lived, or on the Pacific coast, where both adults and children went to pick coffee on the big plantations. Rigoberta Menchú soon became involved in social reform activities through the Catholic Church, and became prominent in the women's rights movement when still only a teenager. Such reform work aroused considerable opposition in influential circles, especially after a guerilla organization established itself in the area. The Menchú family was accused of taking part in guerrilla activities and Rigoberta's father, Vicente, was imprisoned and tortured for allegedly having participated in the execution of a local plantation owner. After his release, he joined the recently founded Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC). In 1983, she told her life story to Elisabeth Burgos Debray. The book is called, I, Rigoberta Menchú, it is an interesting document which
Bibliography: Stoll, David. Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999. Sommer, Doris. "No Secrets: Rigoberta 's Guarded Truth." Women 's Studies 20 (1991): 51–72. Arias, Arturo. Stoll, David. The Rigoberta Menchu Controversy. University of Minnesota Press, March 2001 Burgos-Debray, Elisabeth, ed. I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. New York: Verso, 1984.