Lydia Kim is a teacher of world history and English literature at Cary Academy in Cary, North Carolina. In the following essay, she explains how the testimonial nature of I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala makes it difficult to judge, or even categorize, the book by Western standards of literature, including those of autobiography and biography.

Although I, Rigoberta Menchú is classified as autobiography, it is, in many ways, inaccurate to call the book an autobiography or a memoir, because those texts are written largely for purposes of recalling and celebrating a life, whereas Menchú told her story for the purposes of informing a larger public about human rights abuses in Guatemala. It is precisely that designation as autobiography, however, which has caused so much controversy about the veracity of her story. Critics of Menchú have alleged that Menchú includes...