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Rigoberta Menchu and Guatemala

Many examinations of the world's political economy ignore the role and even the presence of the Fourth World societies, made up of prestate societies studied by anthropologists. Such societies have now come into contact with industrial societies and have been undergoing a transformation, often a violent transformation marked by conflict with military rule in the nation-state of which they find themselves a part. The story of Rigoberta Menchú, an Indian woman and leader in Guatemala, serves as an example of the tensions and trials faced by these peoples as they are presented with the need to make a living and continue as much of their way of life as they can as they are also incorporated into the global market system. The Guatemala experience as represented by Menchú demonstrates the use and abuse of military force in implementing social policy, the attempt to maintain culture as a form of resistance and survival, and regional, national, and international forces affecting the condition of these people at the local level, and the specific roles of women in the prestate community today.

Menchú demonstrates clearly the devastation brought about by the misuse of military rule against a class of citizens in a developing economy. Her people came into conflict with the ruling elite, the landowners who exploit these people and who do not want the peasants incorporated fully into the economy. If they were fully integrated into the economy, they would benefit from their labor. Rigoberta's experience working for the wealthy family shows the sort of exploitation to which her people were subject as well as the reason why the ruling elite would benefit from a continuation of the old system:

I worked for more than four months, I think, and received no money. Then she paid me a little. She gave me twenty quetzals and I was very happy. I wanted to keep them for my father. But she told me that I had to buy shoes, because she was asha...

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Rigoberta Menchu and Guatemala. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:08, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1680805.html