Rigoberta Menchú is a resilient, strong leader of her Quiche Inidan community. Her life story we read this week was very eye-opening, sad and a reflection of the discrimination her community faced in Guatemala. Menchú grew up in the highlands of Altiplano with her family and worked on the Spanish plantations. As they worked, they were constantly put into crowded places, malnourished and pesticide sprayed. Reading about this horrible experience was hard, but it is very true and reminded me of the migrant workers in Canada who come to work here. They are treated like Menchú and her community because they lack the culture and language. Yet, Menchú overcomes many sad and life-disrupting events. When Menchú's brother Nicolas dies because of malnutrition, she is filled with anger and grief. Even though she is young, this painful moment starts her path to push and advocate for her community and their rights. Menchú is inspiring and resilient; she idolizes her father and takes on leadership roles like him in her community. Menchú, over time, becomes more active and plays a vital role in protecting their land against the Guatemalan military. Her father is put in jail time after time, and later on, her other brother, father and mother pass away because of racist biases and torture. Even after all this, Menchú has the strength to share her story and utilize her grief as an activist to further help her community.
After watching the lecture, I wanted to highlight two themes. Lies and Secrets.
Menchú's life story was later discovered to be untruthful, and she had more education than she told us, and her brother's deaths did not occur in the same way. Many people have called Menchú a liar because of her story; it even made headway in the New York Times. However, with this in mind, her story is not all a lie. She has interwoven experiences that are serious problems and highlighted how the Guatemalan military's violence and attacks affected people.
"she speaks for all the Indians of the American continent" (xiii)
"It's not only my life, it's also the testimony of my people." (1)
Although we cannot tell what she experienced herself directly, Menchú's accounts are filled with detail and horrific sad circumstances that are hard to ignore. Her story shows how this unfair discrimination must be stopped for her community and all other Indigenous communities around the globe. Therefore, I would not call Menchú a liar; instead, she advocates for her community's oppressed voices.
Secrets. It was brought up numerous times that Menchú was holding back secrets about her community and culture.
"This is part of the reserve that we've maintained to defend our customs and our culture. Indians have been very careful not to disclose any details of their communities, and the community does not allow them to talk about Indian things." (9)
After all this oppression, I understand why Menchú leaves out details to protect her community.
"I'm still keeping my Indian identity a secret. I'm still keeping secret what I think no-one should know. Not even anthropologists or intellectuals, no matter how many books they have, can find out all our secrets." (247)
Throughout the book, her secrets are hidden from her stories, pushing readers to want to know what they are. These secrets are important because they stay true to being a testimony. Not an autobiography like Jon mentions in the lecture. Menchú's culture is essential, and we don't just get the right to know anything because her story is not our story. It is her's to share. Her struggle and fights through life that we must appreciate. Her resistance keeps her community strong and creates guards to protect it against violence. This story has made me very thankful that Menchú has shared these accounts with us.
Did the idea of secrets and lies affect the story's ability to resonate with you? Did it cause you to get wrapped up in the guessing game of secrets?
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Do you think the community's culture, hard work ethic, and the oppression they faced started Menchú's path to becoming a leader and activist? What are some examples of oppression, events or characters you thought of that shaped Menchú into taking on a leadership role?
I can think of more than one reason for Menchú to keep secrets and not be totally transparent, and I think the most obvious is the state of war in which the indigenous and peasant communities find themselves. The violence they suffer is not only racist, but capitalist. Being a good leader implies knowing when and how to communicate, and when and how to remain silent.
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DeleteThank you for the point! That is so true, as a leader she knows what is important to share and what isn't. She is strategic and thoughtful, good qualities of leaders.
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