Author Bio: Born in 1959 to a poor indigenous family in Guatemala, Rigoberta Menchú Tum has been in a position of discrimination her entire life. Throughout much of her life Guatemala has been engulfed in Civil war from 1960-1999 so she saw first hand the brutality of the government against the rebels and likewise the rebels resolve to fight back. This gives her the somewhat special position of being able to share personal experiences throughout her activism against government tyranny.
Date/Context: The interview was taken in 1992 four years before the end of the Guatemalan Civil War and shortly after that in 1998 Rigoberta would receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her activist efforts to end the racial violence in her nation.
Summary: Since the article is more or less a transcript from an interview, it contains more of a one sided account and argument against the guatemalan military for their discrimination of native indigenous peoples. Rigoberta argues that the military has systematically tried to eliminate dissent against the government by killing off indigenous peoples and crushing rebellions led by them. She goes on to refer to several events during the civil war, notably the 1980 Spanish Embassy Incident, and the terrible effects of them on the native people. She also advocates or the return of control of the country to indigenous with the justification of they were there first and have been exploited for 500 years. Another key focal point of her argument was that the celebration of the 500th anniversary of columbus “discovering” the Americas was a major offense to and was an insult against the indigenous people as was she implied it to be solely the celebration of the beginning of the exploitation of the Continent.
Key Quotation: "The struggle of the indigenous did not begin in 1992, and it will not end in 1992; it is simply an occasion to take advantage of the international attention.”
Identifying Characteristics: This interview is defined by its context, opinions, and the views from both sides of the interview. To begin, the life of Rigoberta Menchu created a strong background for her information and opinions on the Guatemalan people and their lives. Including the fact that she lived in Guatemala during the Guatemalan Civil War which caused her to suffer greatly during her time there and paint an image of life in Guatemala in her mind based on that. Moreover, the reporter in the article asks questions that are geared towards the current issues in Guatemala and the new life of Rigoberta. Such as whether or not she will still view Guatemala in the same way as she once did. This ends up illustrating a one sided argument from Rigoberta's point of view due to the fact that this is an interview. Although, there were occasionally different points presented from the reporter in the interview but nothing to truly adjust the argument of the interview. In essence, this interview is a rather one sided argument that is illustrated from the unique perspective of Rigoberta Menchu.
ReplyDeleteConstructive Feedback: This primary document post is quite detailed and contains a number of details and deep analysis. To begin, the author bio provides a deep understanding of the life of the author and what she went to, which in turn would lead to how she views the events that occur and thus create her bias, which veers towards her perspective. Next, in the date and context it provides a good general background for the events she personally went through which is a good starting point, although it might have also been helpful to add more details of the world at the time rather than just what specifically applies to Rigoberta, whereas it may be helpful to know what else is occurring in the world to create a more broad perspective. Then, in the summary section it could be improved by the addition of what the reporters questions were and the occasional discussion that occurred from them rather than just the perspectives of Rigoberta, especially given that it is at one point argued that it is a one sided argument. Also, it would have been beneficial to have added a quote to add to the argument and summary in order to strengthen the illustration of her past and what she said, especially given that her answers were generally very eloquent and illustrate her points quite well. All in all, this is a very well written document analysis and helps give an understanding of everything that Rigoberta said and described.