The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy Arturo Arias, editor Table of Contents		$22.50 Paper ISBN: 0-8166-3626-5 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-3626-6
A balanced appraisal of the bitter debate surrounding the autobiography of Guatemala's 1992 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Guatemalan indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchú first came to international prominence following the 1983 publication of her memoir, I, Rigoberta Menchú, 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 Menchú's account, generating a storm of controversy. Journalists and scholars squared off regarding whether Menchú had lied about her past and, if so, what that would mean about the larger truths revealed in the book. In The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy, Arturo Arias has assembled a casebook that offers a balanced perspective. 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 assess the political, historical, and cultural contexts of the debate and consider its implications for such issues as the "culture wars," historical truth, and the politics of memory. Included is a new essay by David Stoll in which he responds to his critics. Contributors: Luis Aceituno, Juan Jesús Aznárez, John Beverley, Allen Carey-Webb, Margarita Carrera, Duncan Earle, Claudia Escobar Sarti, Claudia Ferman, Dina Fernández García, Eduardo Galeano, Dante Liano, W. George Lovell, Christopher H. Lutz, Octavio Martí, Victor D. Montejo, Rosa Montero, Mario Roberto Morales, Jorge Palmieri, Daphne Patai, Mary Louise Pratt, Danilo Rodríguez, Ileana Rodríguez, Larry Rohter, Carolina Escobar Sarti, Jorge Skinner-Kleé, Elzbieta Sklodowska, Carol A. Smith, Doris Sommer, David Stoll, Manuel Vásquez Montalbán, Kay B. Warren. Arturo Arias is director of Latin American Studies at the University of Redlands and author of Taking Their Word: Literature and the Signs of Central America. 416 pages | 5-7/8 x 9 | 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Abbreviations I. Background 1. Rigoberta Menchú's History within the Guatemalan Context Arturo Arias 2. I, Rigoberta Menchú and the "Culture Wars Mary Louise Pratt II. Documents: The Public Speaks 3. Tarnished Laureate Larry Rohter 4. Stoll: "I Don't Seek to Destroy Menchú" Interview by Dina Fernández García 5. About Rigoberta's Lies Danilo Rodríguez 6. Lies by the Nobel Prize Winner Jorge Palmieri 7. Her Rosa Montero 8. The Pitiful Lies of Rigoberta Menchú Octavio Martí 9. Arturo Taracena Breakes His Silence Interview by Luis Aceituno 10. Rigoberta Manuel Vásquez Montalbán 11. About David Stoll's Book Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans Jorge Skinner-Kleé 12. Let's Shoot Rigoberta Eduardo Galeano 13. Rigoberta Menchú Tum: The Truth That Challenges the Future The Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation 14. Against Gerardi and Against Rigoberta, Attacks Are Continually Made to Make Them Lose Some of Their Luster Margarita Careera 15. Rigoberta Menchú: Those Who Attack Me Humiliate the Victims Interview by Juan Jesús Aznárez 16. David Stoll Breaks the Silence David Stoll 17. The Anthropologist with the Old Hat Dante Liano 18. The National Council of Mayan Education and Its Twenty-two Member Organizations Publicly Declare 19. A Hamburger in Rigoberta's Black Beans Carolina Escobar Sarti III. Responses and Implications 20. Why Write an Exposé of Rigoberta Menchú? Carol A. Smith 21. Textual Truth, Historical Truth, and Media Truth: Everybody Speaks about the Menchús Claudia Ferman 22. The Primacy of Larger Truths: Rigoberta Menchú and the Tradition of Native Testimony in Guatamala W. George Lovell and Christopher H. Lutz 23. Telling Truths: Taking David Stoll and the Rigoberta Menchú Exposé Seriously Kay B. Warren 24. What Happens When the Subaltern Speaks: Rigoberta Menchú, Multiculturalism, and the Presumption of Equal Worth John Beverley 25. Las Casas's Lies and Other Language Games Doris Sommer 26. The Poetics of Remembering, the Politics of Forgetting: Rereading I, Rigoberta Menchú Elzbieta Sklodowska 27. Whose Truth? Iconicity and Accuracy in the World of Testimonial Literature Daphne Patai 28. Menchú Tales and Maya Social Landscapes: The Silencing of Words and Worlds Duncan Earle 29. Teaching, Testimony, and Truth: Rigoberta Menchú's Credibility in the North American Classroom Allen Carey-Webb 30. Between Silence and Lies: Rigoberta Va Ileana Rodríguez 31. Menchú after Stoll and the Truth Commission Mario Roberto Morales 32. Truth, Human Rights, and Representation: The Case of Rigoberta Menchú Victor D. Montejo 33. The Battle of Rigoberta David Stoll Contributors Permissions