Teaching and testimony : Rigoberta Menchú and the North American classroom /

In the years since Rigoberta Menchu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, her autobiography has become an increasingly popular text among US high school and college instructors interested in inviting previously marginalized voices into classroom discourse. However, responses of North American readers to I, Rigoberta Menchu (CH, Jan'85) tend to vary widely. If Menchu's book is not approached with care, there is a danger that stereotypes students already have about Latin America will be reinforced. Instructors using it in class will want to supply historical context, as well as information about the worldview and cultural values of the Quiche people. Teaching and Testimony provides instructors with a variety of valuable perspectives. Arturo Arias puts Menchu's narrative into the larger viewpoint provided by Guatemalan history and her own continuing personal evolution. Clyde Moneyhun describes how students can be encouraged to question their assumptions about the stability of meaning in any text and in a world they know chiefly through texts. Other authors share specific teaching ideas and classroom reactions of a wide variety of students. Graduate; faculty. L. Brouillette University of Houston