Testimonio : on the politics of truth / John Beverley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beverley, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Menchú, Rigoberta. Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia.

Reportage literature, Spanish American--History and criticism.

Reportage literature, Spanish American.

Spanish American prose literature--20th century--History and criticism.

Spanish American prose literature.

Politics and literature--Latin America.

Politics and literature.

Latin America.

Physical Description:

xix, 121 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2004]

Summary:

These four germinal essays by John Beverley sparked the widespread discussion and debate surrounding testimonio--the socially and politically charged Latin American narrative of witnessing--that culminated, with David Stoll's highly publicized attack on Rigoberta Menchu's celebrated testimonial text. Challenging Hardt and Negri's "Empire, Beverley's extensive new introduction examines the broader historical, political, and ethical issues that this literature raises, tracing the development of testimonio from its emergence in the Cold War era to the rise of a globalized economy and of U.S. political hegemony. Informed by postcolonial studies and the current debate over multiculturalism and identity politics, "Testimonio reaches across disciplinary boundaries to show how this particular literature at once represents and enacts new forms of agency on the part of previously repressed social subjects, as well as its potential as a new form of "alliance politics" between those subjects and artists, scientists, teachers, and intellectuals in a variety of local, national, and international contexts.

Contents:

Introduction : testimony and empire

The margin at the center : on testimonio

"Through all things modern" : second thoughts on testimonio

The real thing

What happens when the subaltern speaks : Rigoberta Menchú, multiculturalism, and the presumption of equal worth.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 95-113) and index.

ISBN:

0816628408

0816628416

OCLC:

53953728