Essay on Historical Truth

After talking to students in classroom who were assigned to do a project on Pratt, getting a frequent response “I didn’t read it, it’s too hard to comprehend” was an ordinary thing. Therefore, writing a response to Pratt’s essay in a language that is comprehendible by regular people can be very helpful to those struggling students. In "Arts of the Contact Zone" Pratt discusses the mix of two different cultures in one area. Where one person is born and lives in a "contact zone" he/she is surrounded by two different conflicting cultures, and there are two different languages. She also introduces us with a new word "autoethnography", which means the way in which subordinate peoples present themselves in ways that their

For the longest time, Americans have celebrated Columbus day, commemorating the admiral’s supposed discovery of America. But, in “The Inconvenient Indian”, Thomas King shatters this idea and develops a new thought in the mind of the reader about natives. By using excellent rhetoric and syntax, King is able to use logos, ethos and pathos in his chapter “Forget Columbus”, where he develops the argument that the stories told in history aren’t always a true representation of how it actually happened.

     The Arts of the Contact Zone by Mary Louise Pratt opened up a whole new concept for our class. The new term “contact zone” appeared and Pratt defined it as "social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world today." The idea of the contact zone is intended in part to contrast with ideas of community that trigger much of the thinking about language, communication, and culture.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca wrote his letters for entirely different reasons. His sole purpose was to inform others (of his sufferings and his discoveries of the Native Americans). He also wanted to “justify his conclusions regarding Spanish policy and behavior in America” which is mainly addressed to Charles V. De Vaca believes that “[his] only remaining duty is to transmit what [he] saw and heard in the nine years [he] wandered lost and miserable over many remote lands.” Therefore, he conveys to Charles V the many incidents that occurred throughout his struggle for survival while in Texas. In De Vaca’s opinion, he thinks that the information he is revealing will be useful to others and will be “of no trivial value for those who go in [his majesty’s] name to subdue countries.”

Throughout recorded human history, authors, leaders, and researchers, have documented the past from many different perspectives, and viewpoints. Not every historian has the same stance on a certain issue, therefore, differences in point of view occur in almost every writing. In the textbook The American Pageant, A People’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart, and Michael Allen, and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the reader can see many different perspectives throughout each reading. The infamous explorer known as Christopher Columbus, has been documented in many different ways. Depending on the reading, Columbus has be called everything from a “[...]symbol of the new age of hope”, to an inhuman tyrant who captured Indians and turned them into slaves.

The long history between Native American and Europeans are a strained and bloody one. For the time of Columbus’s subsequent visits to the new world, native culture has

When the first colonists landed in the territories of the new world, they encountered a people and a culture that no European before them had ever seen. As the first of the settlers attempted to survive in a truly foreign part of the world, their written accounts would soon become popular with those curious of this “new” world, and those who already lived and survived in this seemingly inhospitable environment, Native American Indian. Through these personal accounts, the Native Indian soon became cemented in the American narrative, playing an important role in much of the literature of the era. As one would expect though, the representation of the Native Americans and their relationship with European Americans varies in the written works of the people of the time, with the defining difference in these works being the motives behind the writing. These differences and similarities can be seen in two similar works from two rather different authors, John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson.

Second, Diaz’s account written after a while of the event that builds it more reliable because usually who write during the war tends to his group on his writing. Moreover, in a time of a huge debate about Spain as an empire and treating Indians Diaz wrote his documents based on his memories and notes. Indeed, he was old when he wrote his book. So, it was possible that he missed some information or details, but not the main points and that one of the reason for using “it seems to me” frequently in his paper. In contrast, Cortez wrote his letter during the mission that let him use the warriors’ language that made him avoid mentioning the Aztec’s advantages. But, The Broken Spears is a recollection of Spanish by Indians’ records from the 16th century but, the exact dates are missed which are important to evaluate the information. In brief, Diaz’s account is more believable because he wrote it after a while of the event that let him revised his point of view.

He was shocked at the “subtle and conniving ways employed by people to pass on subversive messages” (Valenzuela 968) and censored much of the letters he analyzed. Juan’s zeal was noticed by his superiors, and he was soon promoted to Section B, where he was to read and reread the letters as well as search them with magnifying glasses and electron microscopes for microdots. His work was so tiring; he barely managed to eat dinner before falling into bed at night. His mother worried for him, and, although it was not always the truth, told him that Lola and the girls were at the bar and missed him. Juan never indulged though, for he would be distracted, and he could not afford that. He was the most cunning at the Censorship Division and was about to congratulate himself for finding his true mission, when he received his letter to Mariana. Without regret, Juan censored it, and the next morning was executed: “one more victim of his devotion to his work” (Valenzuela 968).

Miguel Leon-Portilla author of Broken Spears- The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, tells the story of the Spanish conquest over the Aztecs from the Aztec point of view. It is more familiar in history that the Spanish led by Hernan Cortez defeated the Aztecs with a powerful army and established an easy victory all while having intentions to gain power and greed. However, Leon-Portilla focuses on the Aztec Empire and their story. Leon-Portilla does a great job giving readers the real occurrences and events from Aztec members. This paper argues that history must be told from all sides. It is more common to hear about the Spanish conquest

The study of history and the teaching of history has come under intense public debate in the United States in the last few decades. The “culture-wars” began with the call to add more works by non-Caucasians and women and has bled into the study of history. Not only in the study of history or literature, this debate has spread into American culture like wildfire.

Schreffler begins the essay by explaining Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s account of San Juan de Ulúa on Easter Sunday of 1519. Díaz explains that Tendile (an Aztec leader) ordered his people to produce a painting of Cortés, his entourage, and his ship. Unfortunately, this painting

The two historical documents, Narrative of Lavinia Bell written by an anonymous author in the Montreal Gazette and the Letter to an English Abolitionist by James Henry Hammond, shared their strong opinions on the important issue of slavery. These documents were written in the 1800’s during an era of progressive changes. One can identify similarities and many differences in their opinions, motives, and goals for their writings. I believe Bell’s account was written to show the perspective of slaves’ brutal view, compared to Hammond’s letter justifying slavery and the rights of the slaveholders.

The “Arts of the Contact Zone”, an article written by Stanford professor Mary Louise Pratt, discusses many different ideas about culture and communication by utilizing what she calls the literate arts. Pratt explains many terms that she believes are beneficial in gaining a further understanding of a literary piece. Key terms such as, contact zone, autoethnography and transculturation are introduced in her essay. She describes contact zones as “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power”(Pratt 487). The contact zone can be summarized as a space where two groups with different beliefs or ideas intermingle. In the essay, Pratt also describes the literate arts that come out of the contact zone. Literary arts are ways of addressing problems in the contact zone and sometimes make an attempt to resolve the issue that is happening or has happened. Two terms heavily discussed in the essay are autoethnography and transculturation. These are only two of the many literate arts that precipitate out of the contact zone. Pratt defines autoethnography as a “text in which people undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage with representations others have made of them”(Pratt 487). The culture often takes on those stereotypes in some form of literary work and presents it to the dominant culture often trying to change their views or perspectives. Autoethnography is often used as an effective method

The movies will also be evaluated in how they portray the Native American culture, including clothing, housing, and language. The films 1492, Christopher Columbus and Christopher Columbus: The Discovery are unique in that they all cover the same time period, the same Native Americans and the same general story, which should be common to nearly everyone in North America. Due to this, it is easy to compare and contrast the Tainos, who have the dubious distinction of being the first to come in contact with the white man during the Age of Discovery. It would be quite easy to construct a paper simply contrasting the historical stories that are told within these three films. Not only do the stories vary, and the relationships between certain characters change, but the portrayal of the Native Americans also varies. The first meeting of the Spaniards and the Indians was shown differently in all three of the movies.