Mary Louise Pratt

"Arts of the Contact Zone" by Mary Louise Pratt is an article that talks about how critical and history-making it is when different cultures meet for the first time. She describes this moment with her coined phrase, the "contact zone". She gives the perfect example of when the Andeans, who were native Peruvians, were encountered by the Spanish. Even though my experiences in life can not compare with those of Andeans, this example prompted me to think back to my personal experiences which took place in such an environment. This "contact zone", as Mary Louise Pratt puts it, is " the space in which peoples geographically and historically separated come into contact with each other and establish relations, usually involving coercion, radical inequality, and intractable conflict"(527). In my own interpretation, the "contact zone" is a place or moment in time when two different cultures are forced to interact with each other for the first time. Throughout my life I have had experiences of this nature. My frequent moving around has enabled me to interact with many different cultures. Though my experiences may not have been to such an extreme, such as the example given by Pratt, I still consider them

. . .
Though I do not drink and do not like to run and slide across a wet slippery mat in only my boxers in the cold, I was still able to feel an interaction taking place, even though this interaction was nothing more than me just observing and maybe saying a few word here and there. They chose to separate themselves from everybody else. They eat different foods and have different music. It was a peaceful encounter that I chose to benefit from. I don't like to drink and make a fool of myself on the hill.

I consider two minorities being in the middle of a crowd of white people a "contact zone" because I chose to interact with a race that I usually had not.

After walking through the whole crowd, we saw that the U-house had a little set-up away from the big crowd. I would rather watch New York Undercover than Melrose Place. I really did not know what to expect from the experience. Even though I had a preconceived notion of how whites acted in a big group, I was not prepared for the event. The Umoja House is a special interest house that has been established to encourage a sense of unity and pride among African-American and Hispanic/Latino students.

Looking back at my behavior, I feel I could of made a better attempt at really interacting with all the people at tailgates.

Common topics in this essay:
Louise Pratt, Hispanics Blacks, African-American Hispanic/Latino, Lehigh University, Ricans Mexicans, Undercover Melrose, Puerto Rican, Umoja House, contact zone, white people, walking crowd, Contact Zone, Mary Louise, contact zone mary, cultural identity, throughout life, mary louise, personal experiences, louise pratt, mad mad, zone mary louise, mary louise pratt, zone mary,

Approximate Word count = 1086
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Already a member? Click here