Hi everyone,

This was the week I was most interested in because I have friends I met while I was in Guatemala who were affected by the Civil War in the 1980’s and likely have some experiences close to that of what Rigoberta Menchu may have gone through. For quick context, I went to Guatemala in 2019 for a Rotary International trip and visited the same Highlands K’iche region that Rigoberta is from (I was staying in a small village called Cementario Jolomtaj near Barillas in Huehuetenango). I met a good friend of mine who had to flee into the mountains when CIA-backed death squads arrived into his village to murder Indigenous peoples in cold blood.

This book has been on my reading bucket list for years now, ever since I came back from Guatemala. I am happy we got the chance to read it in class. As mentioned in lecture, it is an example that portrays a level of agency on Menchu, to tell her story to the extent in which she feels comfortable, by holding back certain aspects of information through her repeated references to “secrets”–distinguishing the aspect of a testimonio from an autobiography.

What stood out to me most in this book was the recurring theme of moving forward despite the many challenges they face in protecting their land, people, and culture. Guatemala is historically a region very soughted out by “Western” liberal democracies and private fruit companies–ie United Fruit Company–who often resort to the highly-populated Indigenous areas of the highlands to utilize the land for food production–most times it being crops that aren’t even native or widely consumed by Guatemalans (check out an article on this–it is super interesting and highlights the negative impact foreign investment in agriculture has had on Indigenous communities).  Rigoberta and her community in Altiplano aim to resist such changes and burdensome endeavours from white men or other people seeking to strip her people of their land. For example, when some came to take the land in Altiplano, Menchu’s community mobilized to stop that from happening even if it may have been done in a violent manner. This is definitely not just the case for Menchu’s community, but also I am sure that most Guatemalan’s were able to relate to this in some manner, given the fact that these types of interventions are a constant threat to the many diverse Indigenous communities within all 22 Departments of Guatemala.

My question for you is, in what ways do you think this book may have contributed to discourse on human rights? How does Menchu portray memory throughout her novel?