Hey everyone! I hope all is well,
I had a good experience sitting down to read this week's reading of I, Rigoberta Menchú. Despite the fact that what Rigoberta Menchú revealed was rather heartbreaking, the story was presented in a way that was easy to understand while still being interesting. There are moments in life when we realize that, in comparison to other people's situations, all of the challenges and "suffering" we face are little. For example, I have grumbled about how "difficult" my life is since I attend UBC and only make the minimum wage, which is insufficient to cover my tuition and the $1800 rent on my lovely apartment. But then I read this novel. I started to see that perhaps all of my hard times weren't as difficult as I had previously believed.
The book "I, Rigoberta Menchu" was very eye-opening and caused me to reconsider my viewpoints. It touches on issues including racial inequity, exploitation, violence, and more. It was awful, brutal, and devastating—yet it managed to be simultaneously quite inspirational. It exemplified the importance of morals and ethical behaviour. Which, in my opinion, today's world occasionally lacks. Given the vivid and accurate pictures of the suffering of Guatemala's indigenous population, there are enough events—which may be a combination of very personal and local community-based incidents. The novel's delivery is heartfelt, inspiring, and vivid in my imagination. This book quickly made me realize how many things I've never heard of in the world. Nowadays, people are less concerned with global issues and more focused on personal fulfilment and financial gain. That is unless a Canadian is involved in external matters, in my case.
In contrast to the insights the book gave me, the lecture made me slightly upset since the professor revealed that some of the book's details may have been made up or incorrectly spelled. Regardless of this, it still does not really change the book's message and underlying meaning. No matter what, Rigoberta is authentic, sincere, and awe-inspiring in her strength, dedication, perseverance, and love for her community, home and people.
It was really riveting to discover her people's intricate, complex civic heritage, including the description of their customs, rituals, and ceremonies. The merging of local cultures and the acceptance of Catholicism from the "outside" world because, in the end, you realize the implications of the ramifications of Catholicism on her people as well as the necessity of preserving and defending a culture.
Question:
Is it essential for cultures to blend and come together? How can this be done in a way that still preserves traditional values and beliefs?
This testimony --this is not a novel!-- shows us the importance of political organization to face situations of injustice. It is true that our context is very different from the one in the book, but we can even see the effects of capitalism in Canada. From the indigenous communities of Guatemala we can learn that we have agency to resist and build our ways of life.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. It is true that the story of Menchu humbles us. I also enjoyed the historical backdrop of her heritage
ReplyDeleteHi Julia! Great blog post! To answer your question, I think that it is not essential for cultures to blend together, however cultures need to be respectful of each other. Each culture is unique to it's people and community, so blending and changing cultures would be harming the cultures sacred tradition. Blending cultures over time allows cultures to get lost in history and never talked about or repeated. Cultures need to respect each other so that we can live in harmony together. Culture's work differently to meet the need's of it's people so it is unfair for other cultures to judge because they don't and will never understand it. It is hard to think how this can be done respectfully with all the present ongoing conflict between cultures in this day. Recognition and awareness is one way to get the discussion flowing which is exactly what the testimonial, and Rigoberta Menchu herself does.
ReplyDeleteHi Julia, thanks for the insightful blogpost! Reading Menchu's testimonio definitely made me self-reflect about my own experiences with Indigenous issues and racism, albeit in a less violent context. To answer your question, I don't really think that it is essential for cultures to mix together, but I do believe that cultural exchanges have both good and bad aspects to them.
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