Discursive spaces and the representation of experience: The struggle for social justice in post -war Guatemala.
2002
Hochschulschrift
Zugriff:
This dissertation examines a variety of narrative and dramatic discourse in post-war Guatemala. Combining post-Marxist literary criticism and philosophical pragmatism, my analysis juxtaposes fictional texts, testimonials, testimonial fiction, historical discourse, and popular drama calling into question such notions as truth, clarification, and the role of memory and storytelling in the representation of human experience. The contradictory nature of the Guatemalan peace process and transnational neoliberal economic reforms necessitate a deeper study of a variety of modes of discursive representation leading to a greater understanding of the dynamic social tensions that continue despite the signing of the 1996 peace accords. To this end, I turn first to the fiction of writer in exile Arturo Arias, particularly his novels Despues de la bombas and Jaguar en llamas which call into question the notions of truth and historical authority that are proposed by the two documents examined in the second chapter, the reports by the Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH), and by the Project for the Recovery of Historical Memory (REMHI). After an examination of the value and limitations of both such modes of discourse I extend my study to include contemporary indigenous cultural production through two novels by Pan-Mayan cultural activist Gaspar Pedro Gonzalez. La otra cara: la vida de un Maya, and El retorno de los mayas. The final chapter expands the modes of discourse studied from narrative to dramatic representation through an examination of a play developed and performed in the Ixcan community Santa Maria Tzeja. The play, No hay cosa oculta que no venga a descubrirse, is based on the experiences of the community with the genocidal scorched earth campaign and their eventual return after twelve years as refugees in Mexico. Proposing peace and social justice as a perpetual motive of social transformation in Central America rather than an accomplished political and economic goal, this study of discursive modes of representation seeks out a greater awareness of the complex tensions of Guatemalan society as well as the means by which competing social sectors envision their reconciliation.
Titel: |
Discursive spaces and the representation of experience: The struggle for social justice in post -war Guatemala.
|
---|---|
Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Millar, Michael Thomas |
Link: | |
Veröffentlichung: | 2002 |
Medientyp: | Hochschulschrift |
Schlagwort: |
|
Sonstiges: |
|