{"id":24,"date":"2023-03-20T22:55:56","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T05:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/?p=24"},"modified":"2023-03-20T22:55:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T05:55:56","slug":"i-rigoberta-menchu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/2023\/03\/20\/i-rigoberta-menchu\/","title":{"rendered":"I, Rigoberta Mench\u00fa"},"content":{"rendered":"

I, Rigoberta Mench\u00fa\u00a0<\/em>is a powerful memoir about a young Mayan woman’s family and life during the civil war in Guatemala. The main themes explored include discrimination, mistreatment, and violence, which continue to be prominent themes throughout several books we’ve read in this course so far.<\/p>\n

I was thoroughly captivated by I, Rigoberta Mench\u00fa<\/em> this week, as it brought a new perspective and made me reflect on my own life and history in our country. We are learning increasingly more about the history of mistreatment and oppression towards Indigenous peoples around the world. The book touches on the impact that colonialism has had on the Indigenous peoples in Guatemala as Rigoberta Menchu describes accounts of racism, violence, and oppression. She describes “Indians” often being sprayed with pesticides, or living in miserable conditions with little to no quality of life, highlighting the vast differences between the treatment of wealthy colonizers and indigenous people. Despite the constant oppression and marginalization inflicted onto the indigenous communities of Guatemala, it was inspiring to see how Mench\u00fa was committed to celebrating her cultural heritage. After everything she experiences, she is resilient, and dedicated to her community and her cultural identity.<\/p>\n

The book, and all its brutality, oppression and racial inequality, made me reflect on my own position within society, and how far removed I am to Mench\u00fa’s experience as an individual who grew up in a wealthy, developed country with various opportunities at her fingertips. It also made me understand how often we take for granted the privilege we have to receive the quality of education that we do, as all Mench\u00fa wanted was to master spanish and explore the world outside of her hometown. It was striking to see how she was treated even once she moved to Guatemala City to learn Spanish and work as a maid in a wealthy home, as the book portrays that even pets in the home had a better quality of life than her.<\/p>\n

Overall, I, Rigoberta Mench\u00fa\u00a0<\/em>was thought-provoking and incredibly moving as she highlighted the raw experiences of indigenous people in Guatemala, and the persisting struggles of injustice that continue to linger today as a result of colonialism and systemic racism.<\/p>\n

My question for this week is: How did the book make you think about the world we live in, and the privilege we have in society? Did it make you reflect on your own positionally?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I, Rigoberta Mench\u00fa\u00a0is a powerful memoir about a young Mayan woman’s family and life during the civil war in Guatemala. The main themes explored include discrimination, mistreatment, and violence, which continue to be prominent themes throughout several books we’ve read in this course so far. I was thoroughly captivated by I, Rigoberta Mench\u00fa this week, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[42,40,41,2],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rigoberta-menchu","tag-guatemala","tag-menchu","tag-oppression","tag-spanish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/spanishlitgillianmarshall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}