The Rigoberta Menchú controversy

Guatemalan indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchu first came to international prominence following the 1983 publication of her memoir, I, Rigoberta Menchu, which chronicled in compelling detail the violence and misery that she and her people suffered during her country's brutal civil war. The book focused world attention on Guatemala and led to her being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. In 1999, a book by David Stoll challenged the veracity of key details in Menchu's account, generating a storm of controversy. Journalists and scholars squared off regarding whether Menchu had lied about her past and, if so, what that would mean about the larger truths revealed in her book.

In The Rigoberta Menchu Controversy, Arturo Arias has assembled a casebook that offers a balanced perspective on the debate. The first section of this volume collects the primary documents -- newspaper articles, interviews, and official statements -- in which the debate raged, many translated into English for the first time. In the second section, a distinguished group of international scholars assesses the political, historical, and cultural contexts of the debate, and considers its implications for such issues as the "culture wars", historical truth, and the politics of memory. Also included is a new essay by David Stoll in which he responds to his critics.

Critiques (1)

Critique de Choice

The publication in 1999 of David Stoll's Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans ignited a firestorm of polemic in both international media and academic forums. Stoll presented evidence suggesting the Nobel Peace Prize winner from Guatemala had not seen or experienced all that she claimed in her famous 1984 book, I, Rigoberta Menchu (CH, Jan'85). Journalists, academics, activists, politicians, and others promptly denounced Stoll and his work, suggesting he was part of a vast right-wing conspiracy to oppress the indigenous peoples of the Americas, undermine the Guatemalan peace accords, silence the voices of the oppressed of the world, upset curricular advances in American universities, and on and on. This collection of essays, edited by one of Stoll's vocal detractors, reproduces some of the more artfully crafted venom from the initial outbreak of anti-Stoll hostilities. The collection also includes a series of later academic contributions and reflections, a few of which trespass into the terrain of even-handed, sober reflection on Stoll's work and the important issues it has raised. The issues are vital ones for scholarship, science, journalism, and teaching, and this collection should be read and debated by all interested in them. P. R. Sullivan independent scholar

Table des matières

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Abbreviations	p. xi
I Background	p. 1
Rigoberta Menchú's History Within the Guatemalan Context	p. 3
Notes	p. 24
Bibliography	p. 27
I, Rigoberta Menchú and the "culture Wars"	p. 29
Notes	p. 47
II The Public Speaks	p. 49
Documents The Public Speaks	p. 51
Tarnished Laureate	p. 58
Stoll "i Don't Seek to Destroy Menchú": Interview by Dina Fernández García	p. 66
About Rigoberta's Lies	p. 70
Lies by the Nobel Prize Winner	p. 73
Her	p. 76
The Pitiful Lies of Rigoberta Menchú	p. 78
Arturo Taracena Breaks His Silence: Interview by Luis Aceituno	p. 82
Rigoberta Manuel Vásquez Montalbán	p. 95
About David Stoll's Book Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans	p. 97
Let's Shoot Rigoberta	p. 99
Rigoberta Menchú Tum: The Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation	p. 103
Against Gerardi and Against Rigoberta, Attacks Are Continually Made to Make Them Lose Some of Their Luster	p. 107
Rigoberta Menchú: Those Who Attack Me Humiliate the Victims Interview by Juan Jesús Aznárez	p. 109
David Stoll Breaks the Silence	p. 118
The Anthropologist with the Old Hat	p. 121
The National Council of Mayan Education and Its Twenty-Two Member Organizations Publicly Declare	p. 125
A Hamburger in Rigoberta's Black Beans	p. 127
III Responses and Implications	p. 131
Responses and Implications	p. 133
Why Write an Exposé of Rigoberta Menchú?	p. 141
Notes	p. 154
Textual Truth, Historical Truth, and Media Truth: Everybody Speaks About the Menchús	p. 156
Notes	p. 168
Bibliography	p. 169
The Primacy of Larger Truths: Rigoberta Menchú and the Tradition of Native Testimony in Guatemala	p. 171
Bibliography	p. 195
Telling Truths: Taking David Stoll and the Rigoberta Menchú Exposé Seriously	p. 198
Notes	p. 214
Bibliography	p. 216
What Happens When the Subaltern Speaks: Rigoberta Menchú, Multiculturalism, and the Presumption of Equal Worth	p. 219
Notes	p. 234
Las Casas's Lies and Other Language Games	p. 237
Notes	p. 249
The Poetics of Remembering, the Politics of Forgetting: Rereading I, Rigoberta Menchú	p. 251
Bibliography	p. 267
Whose Truth? Iconicity and Accuracy in the World of Testimonial Literature	p. 270
Notes	p. 285
Bibliography	p. 286
Menchú Tales and Maya Social Landscapes: The Silencing of Words and Worlds	p. 288
Bibliography	p. 307
Teaching, Testimony, and Truth: Rigoberta Menchú's Credibility in the North American Classroom	p. 309
Notes	p. 330
The Primacy of Larger Truths: Rigoberta Va	p. 332
Notes	p. 348
Menchú After Stoll and the Truth Commission	p. 351
Notes	p. 365
Bibliography	p. 370
Truth, Human Rights, and Representation: The Case of Rigoberta Menchú	p. 372
Bibliography	p. 390
The Battle of Rigoberta	p. 392
Notes	p. 407
Bibliography	p. 409
Contributors	p. 411
Permissions	p. 417

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Critiques (1)

Critique de Choice

Table des matières