This week’s text is different in its (semi-) autobiographical nature, while other authors introduce themselves into their stories, or create characters which mirror their own lived experiences. For Rigoberta Menchú’s novel I had to take a step back in a way and do some reflecting on what I have learned about Indigenous peoples in Latin America here at UBC (I am hoping to make Latin American Studies one of Majors), and what I know from my own cultural background as a Mexican-Canadian. Last term I took Anthropology 205 which focused on revolutions, and one of the units was focused on Indigenous protests and revolution in the context of the Central American Dirty Wars. While my class did not study Guatemala, we did look at the situation of El Salvador at the time, by watching a U.S made documentary (I forget the name of the documentary, or anything about the film crew, but I do remember that Martin Sheen narrated the film). Many of the scenes and interviews of the leftist revolutionaries, match almost exactly the description of events by Menchú, such as the distribution of pamphlets and the role of Catholicism. Unfortunately, because of my previous study of the topic, I am also familiar with the government’s brutal oppression, and pretty much genocide, of rural and Indigenous communities, primarily through the actions of Death Squads, as we see when they come and pretty much destroy Rigoberta Menchú’s village.

I, Rigoberta, also made me self-reflect on my own background as a non-Indigenous Spanish and English speaking person. As Elizabeth Burgos-Debray informs us, that Rigoberta Menchu’s testimonio, is an Indigenous form of literary tradition which is separate from the Western and Colonial novel and literary tradition. Because of the Western form of literature, which up until this week was the only literature we have been reading, I was naively expecting Menchú’s “novel” to follow the same structure, as say for example, Mama Blanca. However, I was surprised about intrigued, about the way that Menchú narrates her personal story, many of the major “events” of her life, as secondary or at least only partially focused upon, when compared to the description of traditional Kiché customs, such as the making of traditional clothing or the making of tortillas. I also find it interesting that Menchú, gives a thorough explanation of why she and her family members speak or act in a certain way, as although this is a testimonio by an Indigenous woman, Menchú intended for her story to be told to non-Indigenous peoples, such as myself.

My discussion question is: What did you think of the mentality that Menchú’s Kiché community has, in always being prepared for death, are there any other situations that this mentality can be applied to, such as in stressful events?