Arts of the Contact Zone by Mary Louise Pratt

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Mary Louise Pratt explores cultural differences and their effects on each other in places that she calls contact zones.  She delves across time to express how these contact zones result in new and different sub-cultures.  These differences affect everyone despite their age, gender, and/or ethnicity.  It is important in this day and age to understand the importance of contact zones.  In a world filled conflict and people who despise differences, it is crucial for educators to use their major role in the lives of the youth to facilitate understanding and peace.  To do this we must look to the past to understand how these sociocultural differences came about.  Then we can use the past to light our future.  

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 Pratt stresses the importance of understanding and looking at history through both the eyes of the dominant class and the subordinate class.  If you only study the texts from the perspective of those in control, you will overlook how influential those who subordinate are on the culture and society.  Pratt uses the example of Guaman Poma’s The First New Chronicle and Good Government to highlight the contact zone of the Andeans and the Spanish conquer.  The first section of his letter is called an autoethnographic text by Pratt.  She uses this term to describe the way in which Poma describes events of the Spanish conquering the Andeans.  Pratt states, “These [texts] merge or infiltrate to varying degrees with indigenous idioms to create self-representations intended to intervene in metropolitan modes of understanding” (35).  Poma uses his letter to try to make aware of how the Andeans feeling regarding the situation and squelch misrepresentation of their culture and the events that occurred.  These differing viewpoints create a new perspective that may be more key to understanding the sociocultural factors of the community.  This brings me to another point of how culture is developed in the aftermath of groups being conquered.  Pratt uses the term transculturation to describe the process in which subordinate groups choose to integrate or not to integrate materials transmitted to them by a dominant culture. Understanding both of these ideas is pertinent to understand a history holistically.  The subordinate group still holds on to some control of their culture. As Pratt states, “They do determine to varying extents what gets absorbed into their own and what it gets used for” (36).  They play a key role in choosing what to adapt or allow into their society.  I have heard many times how “history is written by the victors”. However, if we choose to continue to allow this position to stand, then we will lose so much in understanding the sociocultural perspective in the present.  It is crucial for educators to facilitate a comprehensive interpretation and appreciation of history. 

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This brings me to how contact zones in the present day affect children’s education and their readiness to learn.  Most children do not understand the idea of a contact zone, but that does not limit them from being influenced by them.  A key contact zone for children is the one created between a teacher (the authority figure) and the student (the subordinate).  We are trained from a young age to respect our elders and to follow the rules.  It is, however, common for the students to use little, harmless ways to subvert the teacher’s authority.  This, I believe, is a way in which the student tries to express their individuality, but it often goes unrecognized.  Thus, diminishing the student’s ability to think individually and creatively because they have received no form of encouragement.  Doctor Mary Louise Pratt poses an important question to the educators at the conference, “Are teachers supposed to feel that their teaching has been most successful when they have eliminated such things and unified the social world, probably in their own image?” (39).  She challenges the educators present to look closer at their relationship with their students, at the way their actions affect them.  Pratt agrees with Carol Dweck’s presentation on “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve”. Dweck discusses growth and fixed mindsets and how teachers play a role in helping children develop such mindsets.  Dweck states “Let’s not waste anymore lives”.  She says this as to call to other educators to action.  She wants educators to pay attention to all students no matter their social status. It is important to encourage and help foster growth mindsets in children so that they are more successful and better able to understand the importance of growth and individuality. 

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Thus, in the higher levels of education, we see even further the importance of creating and facilitating contact zones so that we are able to get a better and more well-rounded understanding of different cultures and their effects on one another.  Pratt stresses the importance of integrating many different cultures into classrooms on a curricular and student-body level.  She gives the example of a class that was created in an institution that she worked at called Cultures, Ideas, Values.  This class was created in response to students saying “I don’t just want you to let me be here, I want to belong here” (39).  A sense of belonging is crucial for a student to thrive in their education.  It is understandable for a student to not feel like they belong when they see no representation of themselves or when their culture is the only one being villainized and called lesser than in the classroom.  The class was difficult and a bit chaotic with all of the different ideas and materials being analyzed.  However, the results were extraordinary, “Along with rage, incomprehension, and pain, there were exhilarating moments of wonder and revelation, mutual understanding and new wisdom” (39).  The university created a contact zone that would help to create a further understanding of culture and differences.  Exploring suppressed aspects of history and creating communication across lines of indifference is something that should be facilitated in all schools by all educators.  Cultural Mediation should be a common practice in all situations so as to create awareness and a sense of belonging of all cultures in society.  There cannot be peace unless actions are taken to achieve it.  If we are able to achieve understanding then we are one step closer to being able to appreciate our differences. 

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 In conclusion, it is absolutely necessary for educators to have an in-depth understanding of contact zones and their importance in our past, present, and future.  It is crucial for historians and educators to look at history from al perspectives so that we are able to fully understand how cultures develop.  Contact zones also affect children in their education because of the imbalance of power between teachers and students.  It is crucial that we work through these contact zones so that students are able to grow and develop in knowledge.  This leads to the importance of teaching about contact zones at higher levels of education so that we are able to fully understand their importance and how we can use them to establish peace in the world.

 

 

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Works Cited

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Dweck, Carol. “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve.” TED: Ideas Worth

Spreading, Nov. 2014, www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en#t-354758

Pratt, Mary Louise. "Arts of the Contact Zone." Profession, 1991, pp. 33-40. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/25595469.

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