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Voices of the Marginalized

Testimonio is a genre that emerged from marginalized groups sharing their experiences of oppression through first-person accounts. It aims to raise social awareness and challenge mainstream literature by incorporating the real perspectives of marginalized communities. Notable early examples include Biografia de un Cimarron by Miguel Barnet about a Cuban runaway slave, and I, Rigoberta Menchu by Rigoberta Menchu about indigenous oppression in Guatemala. Testimonio lacks a fixed structure but aims to publicly address abuse, poverty, and exploitation experienced by its authors.

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Kimberly Rael
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146 views10 pages

Voices of the Marginalized

Testimonio is a genre that emerged from marginalized groups sharing their experiences of oppression through first-person accounts. It aims to raise social awareness and challenge mainstream literature by incorporating the real perspectives of marginalized communities. Notable early examples include Biografia de un Cimarron by Miguel Barnet about a Cuban runaway slave, and I, Rigoberta Menchu by Rigoberta Menchu about indigenous oppression in Guatemala. Testimonio lacks a fixed structure but aims to publicly address abuse, poverty, and exploitation experienced by its authors.

Uploaded by

Kimberly Rael
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Testimonio

 traces its origins to autobiographical literature


 first-person accounts
 testimonio largely concerns itself with the
issue of marginality
 the subject position of the author is relevant
for it is what really defines the genres – he/she
is one from a traditionally marginalized sector
of society who experienced oppression in
more ways than one.
 it emerges from a need to create social
awareness and consciousness to marginalized
groups and the exploitations they face
 it is an attempt to restructure and challenge
mainstream literature, and adding the real
perspective and discourse of the “other”,
marginalized groups, and create a
consciousness of their existence and
importance in the greater society
 the first testimonial narrative emerged in
1966 by the Cuban Miguel Barnet, Biografia
de un Cimarron (Biography of a Runaway
Slave)
 The story of Esteban Montejo, a Cuban man
of Africa descent and his hardships as a slave,
a fugitive slave and a soldier during the
Cuban War for Independence.
 I, Rigoberta Menchu edited by Elisabeth
Burgos-Debray, this testimony is the story of
a young Guatemalan Quiche Indian woman
and the tragic oppression, moral endurance
and the struggle for justice.
 Rigoberta Menchu was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1992, for her efforts to end
oppression of the indigenous people in
Guatemala.
 Menchu says: “This is my testimony. I didn’t
learn it from a book and I didn’t learn it alone.
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.”
 the testimonio has no fixed structure or
format – while it is largely narrative, it may
come in almost any form (letters, oral
histories, songs, etc.) what really matters is
that the author’s experiences of abuse,
poverty, and exploitation are brought to
public attention so that they may be
addressed adequately.
 a testimonio may be as long as a book or as
brief as a one- or two- paragraph letter.
 WHAT MATTERS IS THE PURPOSE
Flash Fiction
 refers to a largely fictional work of relative
brevity
 some say that it should have not more than
50 words while others say that it can have as
many as a thousand words.
 it goes by different names such as “short
short story”, “micro fiction”, “micro-
narrative”, and “sudden fiction”.
 According to Bob Batchelor (2011), it is also
known as the “smoke-long” story in China
because one is likely to finish reading it
before he/she finishes smoking a stick of
cigarette.
 In the Philippines, the genre has its
equivalent – the dagli.
 “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” six word
story
 Sand scatters the beach
Waves crash on the sandy shore
Blue water shimmers
Haiku poems consist of three lines. The first
and last lines of a haiku have five syllables and
the middle line has 7 syllables.

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