Elisabeth Burgos-Debray (born in
Valencia, Venezuela
Valencia () is the capital city of Carabobo State and the third-largest city in Venezuela.
The city is an economic hub that contains Venezuela's top industries and manufacturing companies. It is also the largest city in the Valencia-Maracay m ...
, in 1941) is a
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
n
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
, former wife of the French philosopher
Régis Debray
Jules Régis Debray (; born 2 September 1940) is a French philosopher, journalist, former government official and academic. He is known for his theorization of mediology, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in ...
, as well as the
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
of
Rigoberta Menchú
Rigoberta Menchú Tum (; born 9 January 1959) is a K'iche' Guatemalan human rights activist, feminist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala's Indigenous peoples during and afte ...
's controversial
autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...
''
I, Rigoberta Menchú''. She was director of the Maison de l'Amerique Latine in Paris and of the Institut Cultural Français in Seville.
Rigoberta Menchú's book
Rigoberta Menchú told Burgos her life in a series of interviews. Menchu claims in the book that she could not read or write in Spanish very well. She also adds that her spoken Spanish was poor. For this reason, Burgos took on the role of assembling Menchu's testimony. Menchu's story speaks to her experience as an indigenous woman, as well as atrocities committed by the Guatemalan military.
Menchú's story is considered one of the major texts of Latin American ''testimonios'' (testimonies). In the U.S., the title of the narrative went by the name of ''I, Rigoberta Menchu'', and in the original Spanish ''
Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia''. In the text, Burgos also adds quotes from the
Popol Vuh
''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people of Guatemala, one of the Maya peoples who also inhabit the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, ...
, the sacred book of the Mayans. Those epigraphs foreshadow the narrative of the testimonial of Menchu. The translation into English became an international phenomenon.
Menchú claims that following the text receiving the Casas de las Américas prize for best testimonial in 1983 that she did not receive any prize money and learned only then Burgos-Debray had registered copyrights in her own name. However, anthropologist David Stoll supports Burgos-Debray's contention that she paid all royalties to an organization identified by Menchú.
[Arias, Arturo, "The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy", (University of Minnesota Press, 2001), 7.]
Personal life
Burgos and Debray had a daughter, the writer
Laurence Debray (born 1976).
Notes
Further reading
*Beverley, John. ''Testimonio: On the Politics of Truth''. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2004.
External links
The Elisabeth Burgos-Debray papersare available at Stanford University'
Hoover Institution Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgos-Debray, Elisabeth
1941 births
Living people
Venezuelan women anthropologists
Venezuelan women essayists