Reclaiming and Asserting Human Rights in Testimonio Genre:

A Critical Study

Abstract

The relationship between the stories embedded in literature and human rights has been replete with paramount importance. The narrative genre that has explored the confluence of human rights and literature is testimonio. Testimonio is the emotionally overcharged record of the self because it documents pain and suffering, humiliation and oppression. Testimonio is a medium through which the author expresses his/her experiences and at the same time works as an agent of articulating the collective experience. Testimonio narratives of collective suffering and emancipation urge readers to locate and analyse the situation of the oppressed community. The writers act as witnesses who reveal the conspiracies and mechanism of the perpetrators of violence, thereby initiating advocacy and activism on behalf of the oppressed people. Originated in Latin American countries the narrative genre testimonio articulates numerous struggles to restore human rights. The paper explores how the testimonio genre can be employed as a powerful narrative to initiate social change.