A Synoptic Rendering of the Testimonio Genre

• In Event: 49.027 - Advancing Testimonio in Curriculum Theory: Hispanophone-Subaltern-Indigenous Cultural Traditions in International Contexts

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to support the advancement of testimonio traditions as curricular representation and resource in K-16 settings.

Working from the perspective of cosmopolitan sensibilities under historical conditions of globalization (Dussell, 1981/2011), this research uses the documentarian methods of the synoptic text (Pinar, 2006) in rendering the Latin American testimonio tradition through careful study and analysis of numerous testimonio primary documents and associated literary criticism as “data universe.” Carefully working through and providing hermeneutic analyses of primary documents and secondary literary criticism, this research provides a brief intellectual history of testimonio focusing on its cultural blending or mestizaje of Hispanophone-subaltern-indigenous intellectual lineages predominant in Latin American intellectual history. After presenting an historical overview, this research renders key primary document testimonios in the contemporary tradition (Allende, 1984, 1991; Barrios de Chungara & Viezzer, 1978; Menchú & Burgos, 1985; García Marquez, 1995; Marcos, 2001; Poniatowska, 1971/1997; 1980/1997). This synoptic text, analyzing key testimonio texts cited above and situating them within relevant traditions of literary criticism, develops themes from the testimonio tradition as they relate to teaching, learning, and curriculum resources for teachers and students in K-16 settings.

From the study of the testimonio tradition and related criticism, the imperative of a critical ethics of social justice emerges within the international context of Latin America under siege of neoliberal globalization. This critical ethics of social justice includes:

1.The reflexive recognition of power asymmetries between those providing testimonio and those hearing it along with the problematic asymmetries of the testimonio tradition’s interlocutors;

2.An understanding, in recognition of the testimonio tradition’s power asymmetries, of testimonio up-from-below narratives and subsequent ethics; and,

3.An understanding, in recognition of the testimonio tradition’s power asymmetries, of testimonio down-from-the-top (Allende, 1984, 1991; García Marquez, 1995; Poniatowska, 1971/1997; 1980/1997) narratives and subsequent ethics.

Overall, particular focus will be placed on the development of curricular representations and resources that advance testimonio in teaching, learning, and curriculum for teaching critical-progressive international intellectual history.

References

Allende, I. (1984). De amor y de sombra. Barcelona, Spain: Plaza & Janés Editores, S.A.

Allende, I. (1991). Eva Luna. Barcelona, Spain: Plaza & Janés Editores, S.A.

Barrios de Chungara, D. & Viezzer, M. (1984). Let me speak! Testimony of a woman in the Bolivian mines (Trans. V. Ortiz). New York, NY: Monthly Review Press.

Burgos, E & Menchú, R. (1985). Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la consciencia. México, D.F.: Siglo XXI Autores.

Dussell, E. (2011). Filosofía de la liberación. México, DF: Fondo de Cultura Económica. (Original work published 1981.)

García Marquéz, G. (1995). Noticia de un secuestro. México, D.F.: Editorial Diana

Marcos, S. (2001). Nuestra arma es nuestra palabra. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press.

Pinar, W.F. (2006). The synoptic text today and other essays. New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang.

Poniatowska, E. (1997). Fuerte es el silencio. Mexico, D.F. Biblioteca Era. (Original work published 1980)

Poniatowska, E. (1997). La noche de Tlatelolco. Mexico, D.F.: Biblioteca Era. (Original work published 1971)

Authors

• Karla O'Donald, Texas Christian University

• James C. Jupp, Georgia Southern University