Rigoberta Menchu Controversy

A balanced appraisal of the bitter debate surrounding the autobiography of Guatemalas 1992 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Guatemalan indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Mench first came to international prominence following the 1983 publication of her memoir, I, Rigoberta Mench, which chronicled in compelling detail the violence and misery that she and her people suffered during her countrys 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 Menchs account, generating a storm of controversy. Journalists and scholars squared off regarding whether Mench had lied about her past and, if so, what that would mean about the larger truths revealed in her book. In The Rigoberta Mench 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 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. Included is a new essay by David Stoll in which he responds to his critics. Contributors: Luis Aceituno; Juan Jess Aznrez; John Beverley, U of Pittsburgh; Allen Carey-Webb, Western Michigan U; Margarita Carrera; Duncan Earle, U of Texas, El Paso; Carolina Escobar Sarti; Claudia Ferman, U of Richmond; Dina Fernndez Garca; Eduardo Galeano; Dante Liano, U of Milan; W. George Lovell, Queens U, Canada; Christopher H. Lutz; Octavio Mart; Victor D. Montejo, UC Davis; Rosa Montero; Mario Roberto Morales, U of Northern Iowa; Jorge Palmieri; Daphne Patai, U of Massachusetts, Amherst; Mary Louise Pratt, Stanford U; Danilo Rodrguez; Ileana Rodrguez, Ohio State U; Larry Rohter; Jorge Skinner-Kle; Elzbieta Sklodowska, Washington U; Carol A. Smith, UC Davis; Doris Sommer, Harvard U; David Stoll, Middlebury College; Manuel Vsquez Montalbn; and Kay B. Warren, Harvard U.