In light of recent research challenging the veracity of Rigoberta Menchú's autobiography, which has been widely taught in college courses, should professors continue to include the book in their syllabi?
The most recent responses appear first
"Is it diluting the culture when organizations step out to help in the only way they know how? Please see..."
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- -- Phil, Caldwell (independent) (posted 3/27, 1:05 p.m., U.S. Eastern time)
"I agree with this particular response because it is not only a question of..."
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- -- Michelle Salek, Senior Span.Ed. major at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (posted 12/17, 2:14 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I believe that the historical accuracy of non-fiction is tantamount to the preservation of any culture..."
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- -- Craig Lechman, Graduate, U.C. Davis (posted 5/26, 4:35 p.m., E.D.T.)
"I recently embroiled my seniors in a discussion of the Rigoberta Menchú issue..."
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- -- Joyce Creed, High school teacher (posted 5/20, 5:10 p.m., E.D.T.)
"How can one race of people claim to be morally superior to another?..."
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- -- Heather Redding, Undergrad University of Maryland (posted 5/10, 3:43 p.m., E.D.T.)
"This morning in my anthropology class, I commented on the controversy surrounding Rigoberta Menchu and whether everything that she said was..."
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- -- Coretta L Alexander, Undergraduate, Georgia State University (posted 4/29, 8:59 a.m., E.D.T.)
"I eagerly await the rigorous investigation and factual dissection of Henry Kissinger's most recent memoirs,..."
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- -- David G. Whiteis, Indiana-Purdue University at Ft. Wayne (posted 4/5, 4:42 p.m., E.D.T.)
"What if someone published what they represented as the diary of a young Jewish girl..."
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- -- Edmond Keenan Wynn, Writer (posted 3/31, 11 a.m., E.S.T.)
"The truth is absolute, no exceptions. No matter what the circumstances, if the truth is changed, it ceases to exist..."
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- -- Matthew Thiessen, Senior class representative, Oklahoma, USA (posted 3/17, 1 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I have worked for many years in support of the Mayan people,..."
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- -- Glenn Welker, Web Master - Indigenous Peoples of Mexico (posted 3/15, 10:40 a.m., E.S.T.)
"Some defenders of Ms. Menchú have argued that whether or not her book..."
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- -- Stephen Jaros, Assistant Professor of Management, Southern University (posted 2/22, 10:09 a.m., E.S.T.)
"I am one of the many North Americans who traveled to Central America..."
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- -- Doddie L. Stone, Unitarian Universalist Minister, Laconia, NH (posted 2/15, 4:37 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I think Dr. Jeffrey's comments reflect the opinion of many supporters..."
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- -- David G. Whiteis, Indiana-Purdue University at Ft. Wayne (posted 2/15, 3:30 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I am struck, in this list of responses, by those who continue ingenuously to propagate a concept..."
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- -- Gareth Amaya Price, Independent Scholar (posted 2/12, 11:15 a.m., E.S.T.)
"This is an amazing and embarrassing discussion..."
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- -- H. Joel Jeffrey, Professor of Computer Science (posted 2/11, 2:38 p.m., E.S.T.)
"It's a shame that a book..."
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- -- Sonia Kimbrough, College Administrator, Onondaga Community College (posted 2/11, 1:50 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Let's say I report that I witnessed a horrible automobile accident,..."
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- -- David G. Whiteis, Indiana-Purdue University at Ft. Wayne (posted 2/5, 4:20 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Wow, I don't believe what I'm reading! I never heard so many arguments for the value of falsehood over fact..."
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- -- Richard E. Kreitner, Research Assistant, Florida State University (posted 2/3, 11:50 a.m., E.S.T.)
"In 1838 the American Anti-Slavery Society published, The Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave..."
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- -- Ann Fabian, visitng research scholar, Graduate Center, City University of New York (posted 1/29, 3 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I am a native from Guatemala. Although I have many doubts concerning Rigoberta's veracity,..."
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- -- A. Aristides Gamez, Professor of Spanish (posted 1/22, 11:25 a.m., E.S.T.)
"The 'New Maya Voices' session at the MLA which I am chairing for the 1999 convention in Chicago..."
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- -- George L. Scheper, Prof. Humanities/Essex Community College (posted 1/21, 2:05 p.m., E.S.T.)
"After having lived in Guatemala for several years, one has a broader scope on the cultural norms..."
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- -- Sauri, Program Coordinator (posted 1/21, 1:55 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Rigoberta Menchú, a Guatemalan indigenous woman, Nobel Peace Prize winner 1992, is not a giant with feet of clay..."
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- -- Peter Waterman, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague (ret'd) (posted 1/21, 10:30 a.m., E.S.T.)
"Cultural Survival, an indigenous human rights organization..."
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- -- Julia Dickinson, Research Coordinator, Cultural Survival (posted 1/20, 4:40 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Indian people tell their own stories, and bear witness to events, to history, which happened to them and their family members..."
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- -- Annie Ross, Professor, Institute of American Indian Arts (posted 1/20, 10:50 a.m., E.S.T.)
"It seems strange to me that so many eminent scholars insist that the Mayan culture should be identical to the Euro-American,..."
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- -- Anne Ewing, Sanctuary Worker, First United Methodist Church of Germantown (posted 1/20, 10:35 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I find Stoll's book a valuable contribution..."
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- -- Fritz Kempner, retired teacher, William Penn Charter School (posted 1/19, 1:25 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I first interviewed Rigoberta Menchú in 1982 as a recent exile within a week or so of her departure from Guatemala..."
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- -- Brett Greider, Lecturer, Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (posted 1/19, 1:10 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Based on the article in The Chronicle (1/15/99) about Stoll's book,..."
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- -- Dennis L. Seager, Associate Professor of Spanish, Oklahoma State University (posted 1/19, 12:55 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I read the article on I, Rigoberta Menchú with great interest,..."
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- -- Michael R. Little, Education Technician, Education Office (posted 1/19, 12:40 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I know little about Guatemala and have never read Menchú's book,..."
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- -- Toni Levi, Asst. Prof., Portland State Univ. (posted 1/15, 5:55 p.m., E.S.T.)
"So far much of the debate is not over my book..."
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- -- David Stoll, Middlebury College (posted 1/15, 5 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Having read the book in a Latin American Studies class..."
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- -- Armando Solares, Photojournalist, The Sarasota Helard Tribune, FL (posted 1/15, 3:40 p.m., E.S.T.)
"The initial premise of Larry Rother's New York Times (12/15/98) article supporting David Stoll was incorrect..."
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- -- Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Professor, California State University, Hayward (posted 1/15, 11:30 a.m., E.S.T.)
"As a long-term anthropological researcher of the very part of Guatemala discussed in her book, I have known for a long time there were fibs and distortions..."
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- -- Duncan Earle, Associate Professor, UT El Paso (posted 1/15, 10:25 a.m., E.S.T.)
"Ms. Menchú tells a story not solely her own, nor does she claim to..."
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- -- Nancy McAndrew, Assistant in the Office of Multicultural Services (posted 1/15, 10:15 a.m., E.S.T.)
"Despite the fact that some of the events narrated in the book are either untrue or impossible to verify,..."
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- -- Michael Berube, Professor, University of Illinois (posted 1/14, 3:40 p.m., E.S.T.)
"David Stoll's ideas are not new..."
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- -- Arturo Arias, Professor, San Francisco State University (posted 1/14, 3:20 p.m., E.S.T.)
"The basic academic tenants of seeking truth in historical accounts,..."
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- -- Leonard Gordon, Arizona State University (posted 1/14, 1:30 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I have worked with Holocaust survivors and their narratives for many years..."
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- -- R. Ruth Linden, Affiliated Scholar, University of California, Berkeley (posted 1/14, 1:10 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Strikingly, some motivations to keep using the book rest upon its critics..."
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- -- Steve Vivian, English/South Suburban College (posted 1/14, 12:55 p.m., E.S.T.)
"There's a lot more bad science in The Bell Curve than there is bad history in Menchú's book;..."
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- -- David G. Whiteis, Indiana-Purdue University, Ft. Wayne (posted 1/14, 12:45 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Menchú's dishonesty is abetted by the dishonesty of our professoriate..."
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- -- Ransford Pyle, Assoc. Prof. U. of Central Florida (posted 1/14, 11:20 a.m., E.S.T.)
"Academic standards require that presented as fact to be factual..."
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- -- Richard D. McCabe, Ph.D., University of Osteropathic Medicine and Health Science (posted 1/14, 11:12 a.m., E.S.T.)
"I agree with Marjorie Agosin in considering that what Rigoberta Menchú is representing is not mendacity..."
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- -- Magdalena Garcia Pinto, Director of Women's Studies, Univ. of Missouri (posted 1/13, 3:15 p.m., E.S.T.)
"It's important for North Americans to realize,..."
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- -- John A. Peeler, Prof. of Pol. Sci., Bucknell U. (posted 1/13, 3:10 p.m., E.S.T.)
"In terms of the discussion regarding the continuation of usage of I, Rigoberta Menchú..."
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- -- Karen Jaime, New York University (posted 1/13, 3 p.m., E.S.T.)
"It's outrageous, of course, that there are people, of whom Rigoberta Menchú is only one,..."
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- -- Donald H. Kirkendall, Retired; former business communications exec. (posted 1/13, 12:56 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I was astounded at the quote from Allen Carey-Webb saying,..."
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- -- John Dollard, Professor of Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin (posted 1/13, 12:50 p.m., E.S.T.)
"What actually happened in Guatemala does matter in any effort at justice..."
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- -- Jeffery Olson, Associate Professor (posted 1/13, 10:55 a.m., E.S.T.)
"I'd like to address two related issues: Menchú's book and the political uses of it..."
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- -- Grover C. Furr, Associate Professor of English, Montclair State University (posted 1/12, 4:05 p.m., E.S.T.)
"One of the issues I have always debated in my class..."
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- -- Ann Twinam, Professor of History, University of Cincinnati (posted 1/12, 10:30 a.m., E.S.T.)
"I think we are missing several points about the Menchú book controversy..."
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- -- G. Jay Christensen, Professor, Office Systems and Bus. Education, California State University, Northridge (posted 1/12, 10:25 a.m., E.S.T.)
"The book described the dark period lived by not only one person, but by many Guatemalans..."
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- -- Oswaldo E. Macz, Msc., Research Director, Universidad Rafael Landivar (Guatemala) (posted 1/12, 10:12 a.m., E.S.T.)
"As a grad student I, too, read I, Rigoberta Menchu..."
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- -- Robert Bauer, Research Analyst, Merced College (posted 1/12, 10 a.m., E.S.T.)
"Menchú's book was one of the assigned readings in a Modern Civilizations class..."
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- -- David Lee, Undergraduate student, Southwestern College (posted 1/12, 9:33 a.m., E.S.T.)
"The question makes me doubt that The Chronicle has understood Stoll's project..."
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- -- Brian D. Haley, Postdoctoral anthropologist, UC Riverside (posted 1/11, 4:56 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I've used Menchú's, I, Rigoberta in Latin American politics classes, and it had received mixed reactions..."
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- -- Waltraud Q. Morales, Professor, University of Central Florida (posted 1/11, 4:43 p.m., E.S.T.)
"How many times do we need to be reminded that..."
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- -- William H. Feldman, Washington, D.C. (posted 1/11, 4:33 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Marjorie Agosin is quoted as saying, 'Whether her book is true or not, I don't care..."
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- -- Rick Anderson, Head Acquisitions Librarian, UNC Greensboro (posted 1/11, 4:25 p.m., E.S.T.)
"Scholars are supposed to have learned, in graduate school if not as undergrads,..."
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- -- Bob Harding, Manager of Academic Resources, California State University, Northridge (posted 1/11, 2:10 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I have mixed feelings about the Stoll book..."
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- -- Matthew Redinger, Assistant Professor of History, Montana State University-Billings (posted 1/11, 1:20 p.m., E.S.T.)
"I, Rigoberta Menchú was required reading for me as an undergrad..."
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- -- Charity Coker, Ph.D. student, Florida International University (posted 1/11, 11:20 a.m., E.S.T.)
"This controversy is very strange for French people..."
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- -- Francois Lapelerie, University Librarian, Universite de la Mediterranee, Faculte de Luminy Marseille, France (posted 1/11, 10:55 a.m., E.S.T.)
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