Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School
 of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the
 Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

 LITERATURE TESTIMONIAL INDIGENA EN GUATEMALA (1987-2001):
 VICTOR MONTEJO Y HUMBERTO AK'ABAL

 By

 Claudia Garcia

 May 2005

Chair: Andres Avellaneda
Major Department: Romance Languages and Literatures

 The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze the production of two indigenous

Mayan authors from Guatemala: Victor Montejo and Humberto Ak'abal. Although they

both write in their native Mayan language as well as in Spanish, the two texts examined

in this thesis were originally written in Spanish. Those texts are Testimonio: muerte de

una comunidad indigena en Guatemala (1987) by Montejo and Grito en la sombra (2001)

by Ak'abal. Because both texts can be considered testimonial, this thesis also examines

the evolution of testimonial literature in Guatemala in the period 1987-2001.

 Montejo's Testimonio basically denounces the genocidal repressive action of the

Guatemalan military against an indigenous community, conforming to a certain classic

conception of testimony. However, his Testimonio displays the appropriation of Western

literary strategies (like the use of suspense) to organize an indigenous testimonial

narrative. From a cultural and political perspective, the indigenous Maya movement

infuses his text with a broader social meaning.