SOURCE: Treacy, Mary Jane. “Rigoberta Menchú: The Art of Rebellion.” In A Dream of Light and Shadow, edited by Marjorie Agosín, pp. 207–220, 322–23. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.

In the following essay, Treacy explores the politicization of Menchú and her autobiography I, Rigoberta Menchú.

I'd like to stress that it's not only my life, it's also the testimony of my people. The important thing is that what has happened to me has happened to many other people too: My story is the story of all poor Guatemalans. My personal experience is the reality of a whole people.

—Rigoberta Menchú, I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

Rigoberta Menchú might not approve of this effort to put together a brief biography for this volume. It is not that the winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize does not have an important or compelling life story to tell. To...