Arts Of The Contact Zone By Pratt
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Arts Of The Contact Zone By Pratt
In "Arts of the Contact Zone," Mary Louise Pratt introduces a term
very unfamiliar to many people. This term, autoethnography, means the way in
which subordinate peoples present themselves in ways that their dominants have
represented them. Therefore, autoethnography is not self-representation, but a
collaboration of mixed ideas and values form both the dominant and subordinate
cultures. They are meant to address the speaker's own community as well as the
conqueror's. Pratt provides many examples of autoethnography throughout her
piece, including two texts by Guaman Poma and her son, Manuel. Although very
different in setting, ideas, and time periods, they accomplish the difficult
goal of cross-cultural communication. Guaman Poma, an Andean who claimed noble
Inca descent, wrote a twelve hundred page long letter in 1613 to King Philip III
of Spain. This manuscript was particularly unique because it was written in two
languages, Spanish and Quechua, the native language of the Andeans.
"Quechua was not thought of as a written language . . . ., nor Andean
culture as a literate culture" (584). This letter proved the theory wrong.
Somehow, Poma interacted with the Spanish in a "contact zone", which
is a "social space where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each
other" (584). This communication forced him to learn the Spanish culture
and use it to his advantage. With his new found knowledge, he presented to the
world a piece of work that incorporated Andean customs and values with European
manners and ideas, exemplifying the idea of cross-cultural communication. The
only flaw in his piece was that it never reached its intended recipient and
therefore, did not get recognized until it was three hundred fifty years too
late. Poma combines his Andean knowledge with his Spanish knowledge. He
"constructs his text by appropriating and adapting pieces of the
representational repertoire of the invaders" (589). At one point, he makes
the Spaniards seem foolish and greedy. "The Spanish, . . . ., brought
nothing of value to share with the Andeans, nothing 'but armor and guns with the
lust for gold, silver, gold and silver'. . . ." (587). It is obvious from
this quote that Poma intentionally exaggerates the Spaniards to be an avaricious
people. He believes that they have brought nothing useful to the Andeans but
ways of greed and a hunger for power. By writing in their own language, Poma
shows his oppositional representation of the Spa...
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