Our Culture Is Our Resistance: Repression, Refuge, and Healing in Guatemala

by Rigoberta Menchú, Jonathan Moller

Spanish Edition available:  Nuestra Cultura es Nuestra Resistencia: Represión, Refugio y Recuperación en Guatemala    "Between 1993 and 2003 Jonathan Moller photographed communities uprooted by war in Guatemala. The result is Our Culture Is Our Resistance , a collection of portraits taken during that decade, revealing stories of life and death, of hope and despair, and of struggles for survival, respect, and truth. The beauty and strength of Moller's photographs and the accompanying texts not only document and preserve the faces and events associated with this land and its history, but also display for the viewer the humanity and dignity of these largely Mayan indigenous peoples."
Featuring 147 tritone portraits, Our Culture Is Our Resistance includes an introduction by Guatemalan Nobel Peace Laureate, Rigoberta Menchú Tum ; essays by Francisco Goldman , Susanne Jonas , and Ricardo Falla ; prose and poetry by Eduardo Galeano, Julia Esquivel, Francisco Morales Santos, Humberto Ak'abal, and Heather Dean . The book also includes testimonies and reflections by Guatemalan community members and survivors, as well as statements by photographer Sebastião Salgado, Eduardo Galeano a noted Guatemalan anthropologist, Jesuit priest and author, and William F. Schulz , Executive Director of Amnesty International USA.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Spanish pronunciation: [riɣoˈβerta menˈtʃu], born 9 January 1959) is an indigenous Guatemalan woman, of the K'iche' ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996), and to promoting indigenous rights in the country. She received the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize and Prince of Asturias Award in 1998. She is the subject of the testimonial biography I, Rigoberta Menchú (1983) and the author of the autobiographical work, Crossing Borders.

Menchú is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. She has also become a figure in indigenous political parties and ran for President of Guatemala in 2007 and 2011.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving testimonials, poems, and photography of the reconciliation and healing process following Guatemala’s long and bloody civil war. Facets of the modern Mayan culture which were not discussed as we moved from one safely sanitized tourist destination to another.