“What had those pots done to that Christian to make him kick them?” (Asunta, 133)
A welcome switch up in our reading schedule, Andean Lives falls under the genre of Testimonio which also includes Rigoberta Menchú’s revolutionary work “Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia”.
From both voices in the text, resiliency in the face of imposed hardship is a consistent motif. I’d like to explore the differences and similarities in resiliency faced by Gregorio and Asunta, although they share commonalities, there are marked differences in the type and extent of violence experienced based on their gender.
The testimony of Gregorio recounts his struggles to find and keep reliable work over the course of basically his entire life. From the time he was a young boy, orphaned, he was abused and taken advantage of by almost every employer he came across. His experience mirrors the picaresco, a young and migratory boy trying to survive under violent and unjust labor conditions. Some of his stories of losing livestock or playing with other boys while on the job remind me of Lazarillo. Additionally, Gregorio struggles with reliable housing, constantly being evicted/displaced/removed and being forced to start over. There’s a general attitude that these hardships are an uncomfortable but unavoidable reality to those born with the same social standing as Gregorio.
Gregorio describes account after account of unwarranted violence against him, but the nature is never sexual. On the other hand, the resiliency Asunta must engage in centers on her identity as a female and the expectations of a woman in the described society. Asuntas story was hard to read in ways that hit closer to home. Asuntas story was one of a loss of agency and identity as a woman. She not only endured abuses due to her identity as an Indigenous Peruvian but as an Indigenous Peruvian Woman.
I think it’s especially interesting that Gregorio doesn’t talk about Asuntas food business in his testimonio. For her this was one the biggest moments of victory and was a form of empowerment in the face of hardship. It wasn’t worth mentioning to him. Not to be forgotten, the domestic abuse she endured as his wife was also only mentioned by her. And mentioned in the same sentence praising his fatherhood as if the two must be inextricably linked and at least it’s not as bad as before.
I chose this quote because I think its exemplifies the need for resiliency that Gregorio and Asunta feel as Indegenous people facing the impacts of a colonial political and economic system.
Has resiliency become a condition of Indigeneity?
4 replies on “reflections on resiliency in Andean Life (el testimonio)”
Hi Morgan! Your question of whether resiliency has become a condition of Indigeneity really got me thinking. On one hand, the term “Indigeneity” implies that people who are not Indigenous exist on a land. Their overtaking of that land suggests that some resiliency to get through that is required. However, resiliency, no matter how positive of a concept, suggests that suffering must occur. If we hold Indigenous people to a standard that they must be resilient individuals, does this mean that we’re unprepared to change the conditions that require them to acquire resiliency in the first place??
Hi Morgan:)
I appreciate you the insights that you share in your blog post. I also honed in on the different type of suffering that women must endure compared to men. Regarding your question, “Has resiliency become a condition of Indigeneity?” That’s is a tricky one, and unfortunately, I think that even though resiliency may be associated with marginalized groups (such as indigenous communities), Asunta and Gregorio seem to be exceptional. As we read, the vast majority of those who Asunta and Gregorio were close to (family, partners, children, etc.) died prematurely, undoubtably as a result of the hardship and trauma. Though they are without a doubt incredibly resilient individuals, stories such as theirs (the part where they survive all of it) are uncommon and even rarer is the fact that their story was recorded for us to read. I think that this unique set of events creates a sort of availability heuristic where the majority of the stories that are told are the one of resiliency and we then consequently associate it with indigeneity. I also think that we should consider whether or not this is harmful. Does the belief that all indigenous persons are resilient assuage the guilt of colonizers?
“For her this was one the biggest moments of victory and was a form of empowerment in the face of hardship. It wasn’t worth mentioning to him.” There is an unbridgeable gap between them, and the comparison between both testimonies makes it evident. In every life story there are still many untold parts and others barely hinted at. That makes me think about the protocols of silence. Are they personal choice or self-censorship in each culture? Is that a symptom of the fundamental defects of testimony as a genre? Not only can we see that between the two there are topics that are touched on from a different perspective, but that others are not touched on at all. And in the weight of silence, gender is another central element.
Your comments about how Asunta suffered more as an Indigenous Peruvian woman made me think about my major, GRSJ, because intersectionality is a key concept for us. And Asunta’s life story is the perfect example of intersectionality, especially when compared to Gregorio’s life story. Her identity as a woman meant that she often suffered more and in different ways than she would have as a man.