La construcción del "Otro". Un análisis del discurso de la protagonista en la obra Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia

Sammanfattning: The aim of this essay is to discover how the protagonist constructs her identity, through her discourse, in the work I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. While the work is considered a testimony, the oral narrative has been modified by the author. Hence in this essay, the work is considered narrative literature, characterised by the narrator as the protagonist. The postcolonial theory of Edward Said is applied, as well as the description of the social structures and the dominant discourse in Latin America, and the concepts of Critical Discourse Studies by Teun Adrianus van Dijk. It has been argued that the discourse by the protagonist, reproduces the existence of the separation between “Us” and the “Others”. The protagonist constructs a discourse where she must break the rules of her own community and adapt to the cultural hegemony of the society, to be able to expand her knowledge and develop herself. In addition, the protagonist creates a discourse in which she must have a pluricultural identity, to be accepted, outside of her community. In conclusion, the protagonist must follow the norms that maintain the social structures of the society, that originate from the colonial era, to be able to attain power.