Idea for Final Project

For my final project, I have decided to read Rigoberta Menchú’s autobiography, I Rigoberta Menchú. Menchú is a young Guatemalan peasant woman (has won the Nobel Peace Prize), whom is seen as a national leader by many in her country. In this book, Menchú talks about the experiences her family, and many Indian communities in America faced when the Lucas Garcia regime took over in 1978. Her father, mother, and brother were all killed in incidents of savagery on part of the army.

Menchú’s story interested me so much, that I decided to conduct some research on the facts found within the pages of this autobiography. Many people have begun to discuss and wonder the degree of truth of what Menchú says. Dr. David Stoll, the Associate Professor of Anthropology at Middlebury College, has spent many years investigating this topic. In 1987 he began to do field research on political violence and the peace process in Guatemala, and has published 5 books including Rigoberta Menchú and The Story of All Poor Guatemalans about various controversies.

I was able to contact this author and he agreed to have a phone interview with me to talk about his book and to be able to further discuss what led him to conduct the investigation, his findings, and his end product. My plan is to tape the conversation and be able to produce a video with some images with the interview playing in the background. I am currently in the process of forming questions before I call him, and I will post these soon!