Narrative authority vs. perjured testimony: Courage, vulnerability and truth
Testimonio translates to "testimony," but utilizing this Western usage for the term can blind readers to the fact that the Spanish word does not necessarily bear the denotation of eyewitness as it does in non-Latin American settings. The contestation over I, Rigoberta Menchu - its factuality versus its narrative authority-demonstrates well the distinctionover epistemologies surrounding this book. If factuality is problematic, then how is such a text to be read ? Several usages for this text and other testimonio forms are suggested, especially in teaching contexts. The political right's excoriation of the text is specifically rejected, but the uncritical adoption of the text as a rallying manifesto by the political left is also criticized.