Roots of Revolution: Discovering Dominga

1. Video

We will watch the video Discovering Dominga to see an example of one person's search for her family history and the amazing world she discovered. This film was made in 2001, but the events it records remain highly relevant today.

2. Discussion

We will discuss the film in class. Possible questions include:

• Two months from now, what do you think you will remember from this film and why?
• If you could ask Denese a single question, what would it be?
• Did anything in this film surprise you? If so, what? Why was it surprising?
• What insights or new knowledge did you gain from this film?
• What is the significance of the film’s title?

More Information

• PBS POV Discovering Dominga
• Global Voices
• Wikimedia: Guatemalan Civil War
• Wikimedia: Rio Negro Massacre
• The Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH): Guatemalan Memory of Silence Report
• Amnesty International
• Guatemala and The United Fruit Company

As we consume life's quota,
how many truths elude us?

Augusto Monterroso
Movimiento perpetuo

Silence lost its way
when a hand
opened the doors to the voice.

Francisco Morales Santos
Al pie de la letra

Let the history we lived
be taught in the schools,
so that it is never forgotten,
so our children may know it.

Testimony given to the CEH

cease to do evil
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
defend the fatherless,
plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1, 16-17

The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.