Contact zone

Mary Louise Pratt defined contact zones 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.” A contact zone is a place where two cultures can mesh together. People from different cultures are able to interact with each other through these contact zones. A contact zone allows people to look into cultures other

Caroline Kelly Professor Ober First Year Writing 29 September 2014 The Contact Zone The Holocaust happened because two groups of people were grappling with each and one was stronger than the other. Wars typically occur because two cultures disagree and choose to settle it, and the strong culture prevails. African American and Caucasian people used to be exiled for getting married, because they were different. There are millions of different cultures in the world today and every

What is a contact zone? Well it is a gap in which two different cultures meet and inform each other in uneven ways. If a contact zone is established than you can gain a new perspective because you will be interacting with people of a foreign culture. This is where we began to see the clash of what we think we know vs. how much is out there that we don’t know. When it is said in pratt “Descriptions of interactions between people in conversation, classrooms, medical and bureaucratic settings, readily

The reader is introduced to a term coined and repeated by Pratt throughout the piece, "contact zones." She uses this term "to refer to 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" (Pratt 584). Contact zones were not necessarily a positive interaction because these social interactions usually came out of ignorance

Mary Louise Pratt wrote the essay “Arts of the Contact Zone” with the purpose of explaining that society would benefit if people were exposed to and understood the concept of “contact zones”. She refers to contact zones as social spaces where cultures meet and clash with each other, usually with one culture being dominant over the other. A person living in a contact zone is exposed to two different cultures, two different languages, and as a result is presented with a struggle in each culture to

student body (Pratt 39). A diverse class with a culturally inclusive curriculum led to the creation of a “safe house”, which are “social and intellectual spaces” for all cultures to have “shared understandings” (Pratt 40). If every school vitalized “contact zones”, then Rodriguez and other students could succeed academically while having integrity for where they came from making school a “safe house”. Cultural diversity promotes free-thinking since students do not lose their ethnic virtues and avoid shifting

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

“The Contact Zone”, is defined by Mary Louis Pratt as “the space in which transculturation takes place – where two different cultures meet and inform each other, often in highly asymmetrical ways.” Pratt describes what she calls ‘contact zones’ and elaborates on the pros and cons of these cultural interactions. She sees the contact zone as a place that allows people to exchange cultural ideas and break down the dividing cultural borders. When a contact zone is started, people are able to interact

Throughout “Arts of the Contact Zone”, Pratt uses many real life situations to exemplify how contact zones create conflict and separate people and cultures; but she also examines ways to use the contact zone to our advantage in order to unify society. Sometimes people are led believe their differences are too great to overcome, so they remain isolated from the rest of society. People shouldn’t be trying to isolate themselves, but rather incorporating their culture into the community around them.

has not changed: the way lessons are taught. Through discussions in the classroom, students gain knowledge from the information that is being presented to them and speaking skill that are being learned as they discuss the topics. The concepts, contact zone, transculturation, and autoethnography, all play a large role in classroom discussions and the life-long lessons being taught. In a classroom setting, it is not difficult for instructors to lecture to the class.