What Are The Advantages Of Rigoberta

Superior Essays
Throughout history, many racial groups have experienced oppression and injustices. Guatemala oppression towards its own indigenous population was one of them. The indigenous communities have suffered inequalities from their own government and from Ladinos. Indigenous people were like slaves to landowners and experienced a lot of injustice in the fincas. In the testimonio of I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala Elisabeth Burgos-Debray narrates Rigoberta’s struggles and oppression that many Guatemalan Indian communities have experienced. In Guatemala, historically speaking Ladinos have always dominated indigenous communities and indigenous people have always lived in poverty. The government and Ladinos took advantage of the indigenous …show more content…
Rigoberta witnesses’ numerous injustices and the death of many of her community due to malnutrition, unhealthy work conditions, and the way they have been sabotage allowed Rigoberta to develop a political awareness. However, what trigger her to develop a political consciousness was the exploitation and manipulation experienced by many such as ladinos and the government. The violence and the death of many compañeros and family members allowed Rigoberta to find the courage to move on to help her community. Lastly, her community and culture values allowed Rigoberta to find her political voice. These factors are what allowed Rigoberta to understand the world and herself more clearly, indigenous people have been marginalize and Rigoberta was willing to stop the oppressors by joining the struggle of many compañeros. These events are what allowed Rigoberta to develop a liberation theology and find her inner voice.
Rigoberta and many indigenous

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Dr. Nolin explained the conflict Guatemala has dealt with before sharing her journey. Guatemala is recovering from thirty-six years of internal conflict…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She argues that the government started the genocide to control protest and stop guerilla movement. In addition, Oglesby states that the Spanish colonialism brought destructive changes to the Maya, resulting in protest. Furthermore, in the article it is suggested that the Guatemalan Army launched a scorched earth counterinsurgency to stop the guerrillas, and many of the Mayans were believed to be supporting the guerrillas. Also the government…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Camilla Townsend’s Malintzin’s Choices depicts the ways in which one young Indian woman’s bold decision impacted the outcome of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The master narrative is commonly told through the perspective of the conquistadors themselves, rendering the history largely biased and lacking the views of the indigenous communities that were conquered. The inclusion of indigenous experiences challenges white male authority by shedding light on the inaccuracies of the major accounts and proving that a significant portion of history is based on the outlook of the person who writes it. Malintzin’s story deconstructs the widely-accepted Eurocentric narrative of the Spanish conquest of Mexico while simultaneously demonstrating the importance…

    • 1368 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Her life experiences helped her want to help change the repression that many Indians go through just because they are Indians. On her trips to the capital, her father would teach Rigoberta the things he had to do in order to help their community. One of the things Rigoberta learned in the capital was “when people have problems with land, when they’re sold land, or when the government wants to settle peasants in other areas, they go through the Agrarian Transformation Institute”. Rigoberta grew close to her father and he taught her how to be respected and liked in her community – this helped her aid her community. Through her work with the CUC, Rigoberta learned how to organize the people.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Christopher Columbus sailed the blue Atlantic Ocean in 1492. He was mainly looking for gold to bring back to Europe, a continent concerned with wealth, religion, and royal government. However, on the east side of the Atlantic, the indigenous people were notable “for their hospitality, their belief of sharing”(Zinn, pg 1), as well as their concentration on nature, working with others in their village or tribe, and diversity. Millions of miles of ocean split these two distinct peoples apart, but they would soon collide for the worst. The Europeans sailed to find wealth and land, yet in the process they destroyed the indigenous people’s cultural foundations, their way of valuing the land, and almost their whole population.…

    • 1492 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A former slave Bridget Biddy Mason was held in Los Angeles County Jail due to her owner demanding her and her children to come back to him but she won her freedom and became a nurse at the county jail where she worked until her contract expired but still came and volunteer. Even though there’s no record of what she saw, according to Lytle Hernandez “Biddy undoubtedly watched as Native people arrested on public order charges weekly filled the danked cells of the L.A. County Jail. She would have seen Natives tied to the log out front and sold to the highest white bidder” (Lytle Hernandez, 51). This is important to class because we can see how black and brown people often get pushed to jobs that nobody want but she also witnessed how they sold…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Oka Crisis Analysis

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The media was not only against Indigenous people, but in the 1990s and before there was still a great amount of tension between the Franco-phones and Anglo-phone Canadians. “Robin Philpot argues in Oka: Dernier Alibi du Canada Anglais (Oka: English Canada's Last Alibi) that English-language coverage of the standoffs at Oka and Kahnawake was tainted by anti-Quebec,” potentially caused by the end of the Meech Lake constitutional accord (Wells, 1991). This accord was intended to persuade the government of Quebec to follow the 1982 constitutional amendments (Wells, 1991). The English were not entirely supportive of the French during the Oka Crisis evident with their media coverage of ignoring the Mohawks attacks in the past (Wells, 1991). Unlike…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Intro The emergence of indigenous courts captures the general public’s attention. Not only deploying innovative practices of justice, it acknowledges the devastating and enduring effects that indigenous people suffer since the period of colonization. Indigenous people continue to be disproportionately disadvantaged in the society. Since the early 90s, nations such as Australia and Canada begin to be more aware of the difficulties that indigenous people have confronted such as the effects of colonization, racism and overrepresentation in the Criminal Justice System.…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Short Story: “The Only Traffic Signal in the reservation doesn’t flash red anymore” Topic: The various ways that Native Americans have been oppressed. Thesis: Native Americans are the most oppressed minority in the United States. They suffer from horrible living conditions, plagued by poverty, sickness, terrible housing, and alcohol/drugs.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    History is linear but it is certainly not progressive. King frequently mentions that although much time has passed, it has meant nothing in regards to how Indigenous people have and are being treated. How can we change the future of the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples when the basis of our history is presented in a way that paints one side as invariably dispensable? The Inconvenient Indian gives us a look at the valuable importance of how history shapes the relationships that are fostered as a result of how history paints each side. We must constantly be aware that not all history is truths; in fact at times history is a deliberate covering up of the truth.…

    • 1694 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Diversity and Culture of Native and African American Communities Sarah Kneifl University of South Dakota Abstract: This paper discusses the minority groups of the Native Americans and the African Americans. It explores the history of both groups, how they are similar and what makes them different. Based on the research, they both suffered at the hands of the whites. Even though both described it differently, the Native and African Americans wanted “citizenship.”…

    • 1289 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Spaniards came to the New World in hopes of finding gold. Once they get here they realize there is not any, and the Spaniards realize they are going to have to work in order to survive and make money. They quickly force the Indian communities to work for them. The treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards was unimaginable and explained thoroughly by Las Casas who was a Dominican priest against this treatment. Religion played a major role in the treatment of the Indians and also later on in the Pueblo Revolt.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Poverty In New Mexico

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages

    New Mexico is a breathtaking place, with the vibrant colors and the heart-stopping landscapes, it is portrayed essentially as the Land of Enchantment. The state is known for its rich history and luscious cultures that inhale residents from other states, along with bundles of foreigners from around the world. Although, to the world’s surprise, the implausible sweet land is one of the meagerest states in America. There are numerous reasons why New Mexico is dirt poor, although the primary reasons for poverty in New Mexico, are low levels of education, structures of common families, access to social and welfare programs, and diverse cultures and races. The following criteria demonstrates why New Mexico is ranked a leading impecunious state in…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    “The ‘Wretched Indians’: What We Don’t Learn in History Books” The Spanish Conquest as we know it has been largely painted as a valiant and remarkable achievement deemed justifiable through widely-accepted perceptions of European superiority. Indeed, when taught about these expeditions, rarely are we given sources that encourage us to picture the Indigenous peoples fighting on the same side as the Spaniards; After all, the textbooks say they were the ‘bad guys’ to beat, right? Matthew Restall’s Seven Myths of The Spanish Conquest reveals the subjective perceptions of the Spanish Conquest in an attempt to help modify the erroneous aspects of the Indigenous peoples’ narrative. In addition, as noted by Restall, even William H. Prescott, a historian…

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Social Structure: The major components of social structure are culture, social class, social status, roles, groups and social institutions. Use each of these social structure variables to explain why Native Americans have such a low rate of college graduation. (See Table 9.3 on page 234 in your Henslin textbook). Minority groups must endure a great deal of inequality to gain success in the United States.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays