Twenty-first International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The ‘ truth ‘ of the testimony of Rigoberta Menchu, an Indian woman in Guatemala, has been both disputed (Stoll, 1999, Rohler 1998, Sanford 1999) and defended (Gugelberger 1995, 1999;Sklodowska; Arias 2001; Beverly 2005; Gilmore 2003; Sommers 1991) since her famous narrative Me llamo Rigoberta Menchu y asi me nacio la conciencia was published in Spanish in1983. Menchu, dictated her oral testimony to the Venezuelan transcriber, Elizabeth Burgos-Debray, to make her story more palatable to the wider public. Burgos did not transcribe Menchu’s story in a literal way but improved the grammar, word structure, and reorganized Menchu’s narrative. Menchu claimed she had not learned Spanish until she was 24 years old but wanted to share her testimony about atrocities of the Guatemalan government and their military in the Civil war in Guatemala at the international arena in the most effective way. Her testimony uncovered ‘her truth’ to scholars, students and general public alike. Menchu became a popular international author. In this study, I analyze the function of memory in Menchu’s English publication I Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans in 1999 in the view of the immense controversy the publication received.