Let Me Speak! Testimony of Domitila, a Woman of the Bolivian Mines
by Domitila Barrios de Chungara, Moema Viezzer (Joint Author.)
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Description
First published in English in 1978, this classic book contains the testimony of Domitila Barrios de Chungara, the wife of a Bolivian tin miner. Blending firsthand accounts with astute political analysis, Domitila describes the hardships endured by Bolivia's vast working class and her own efforts at organizing women in the mining community. The result is a gripping narrative of class struggle and repression, an important social document that illuminates the reality of capitalist exploitation show more in 1970s Bolivia. Domitila Barrios de Chungara was born in 1937 in the Siglo XX mining town in Bolivia. She became politically active in the 1960s and, in 1975, participated in the UN International Women's Year Tribunal in Mexico. In 2005 she was nominated alongside 999 other "Peace Women" for a collective Nobel Peace Prize. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
"My people are struggling to reach socialism"
By sally tarbox on 21 Dec. 2017
Format: Paperback
This narrative of Bolivian social activist Domitila de Chungara can't be called great literature - but it is an extremely informative and horrifying work, focusing on the plight of Bolivia's poor in the 60s and 70s.
Brought up in the tin mining region of Potosi, the people were oppressed by the mine owners and the government, in league with the US. Low wages, constant attempts from above to stamp out an increasingly unionized workforce through threats, fomenting discord - and also through torture and massacres - this makes for grim reading. As a wife and mother of seven, the author's activities resulted in opposition from her husband, threats show more against her children and prison and beatings.
She shows an astonishing resolution, from when she first took up the socialist cause (and for which she was disfellowshipped from the Jehovah's Witnesses.)
Chungara's interviews were written down by Brazilian journalist and social anthropologist Moema Viezzer. show less
By sally tarbox on 21 Dec. 2017
Format: Paperback
This narrative of Bolivian social activist Domitila de Chungara can't be called great literature - but it is an extremely informative and horrifying work, focusing on the plight of Bolivia's poor in the 60s and 70s.
Brought up in the tin mining region of Potosi, the people were oppressed by the mine owners and the government, in league with the US. Low wages, constant attempts from above to stamp out an increasingly unionized workforce through threats, fomenting discord - and also through torture and massacres - this makes for grim reading. As a wife and mother of seven, the author's activities resulted in opposition from her husband, threats show more against her children and prison and beatings.
She shows an astonishing resolution, from when she first took up the socialist cause (and for which she was disfellowshipped from the Jehovah's Witnesses.)
Chungara's interviews were written down by Brazilian journalist and social anthropologist Moema Viezzer. show less
A testimony of Domitila, a woman of the Bolivian mines
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Feminists' memoirs/autobiographies
38 works; 11 members
Author Information
2+ Works 164 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1978
- Important places
- Los Yungas, Bolivia
- First words
- I don't want anyone at any moment to interpret the story I'm about to tell as something that is only personal.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I believe that that's the main object of a work such as this.
Classifications
- Genres
- Anthropology, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, History, Sexuality and Gender Studies, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 984 — History & geography History of South America Bolivia
- LCC
- HQ1537 .B37713 — Social sciences The family. Marriage, Women and Sexuality The Family. Marriage. Women Women. Feminism
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 157
- Popularity
- 208,482
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.70)
- Languages
- 6 — Danish, Dutch, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 12
- ASINs
- 3
