In 1990, the second Modern Language Association Literacy Conference was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During the conference Mary Louise Pratt a Stanford Professor delivered a keynote/lecture that revolutionized how people think about their social spaces. She introduced a revolutionary way to think about these social spaces, instead of calling them communities she started calling it the “contact zone”. According to Pratt a “contact zone is a place where cultures meet, clash, and grapple” (Pratt 487). While lecturing her fellow colleagues Pratt argues that our idea of community is strongly utopian. She continues to plead her case by saying that societies often profess, “embodying values like equality fraternity and liberty, but systematically fail to realize”. (Pratt 493). Pratt wanted her colleagues to realize that it comes down to seeing your social spaces as “communities” or as “contact zones”. Although, she makes a strong case stating that communities are considered utopian and therefore social spaces should not be seen as such. I believe social spaces should be seen as “contact zones” and that we should embrace that clash of cultures it creates because it has the potential to make us stronger. After all, the laws of celestial mechanics dictate that when two objects (cultures) collide there is always damage of a collateral nature. While reflecting on how the concepts of “community” and “contact zone” affect me and how I perceive my social spaces, I could not think of a better example than the “Northeastern University Community”. It made me think of how one gets to be part of a social space, how being outside or inside of such space can influence the point of view one has on it, and even how could it be possible that we suc... ... middle of paper ... ...ecause it depends so much on perspective and circumstances. Analyzing one’s social space as both a “community” and a “contact zone” can be detrimental to a previously established opinion or feeling one could have towards that space, making it uncomfortable. It is also true, that by thinking of your social space as a “community” and a “contact zone” help you learn a lot more about that space, and helps you mature as an individual. I support the idea of a “contact zone” because there is historical proof of it, but the historical proof for a “community is yet to be discovered. I propose to discuss a new phenomenon “contact zones” that seek to be a “community”. Works Cited Pratt, Mary Louise. “Arts of the Contact Zone.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 9th ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky, Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 485-497. Print.
A community is comprised of a group of goal oriented individuals with similar beliefs and expectations. Currently the term is used interchangeably with society, the town one lives in and even religion. A less shallow interpretation suggests that community embodies a lifestyle unique to its members. Similarities within the group establish bonds along with ideals, values, and strength in numbers unknown to an individual. Ideals and values ultimately impose the culture that the constituents abide by. By becoming part of a community, socialization...
...e term “empty and sentimental…and the extraordinary power one can gain through speaking/writing in an actual community is ignored” (Harris 134-135). He brings up Bartholomae, as his work shows that universities have many communities that “shift subtly” and are always changing. Bartholomae says universities are along the lines of Harris’ discussion of public. Lastly, Harris worries in teaching students in a particular common way, as it will lead to agreeing with everything their professors tell them, which he argues against. Students should be working toward some well-defined version of composition. He doesn’t want students to stop being who they are. To Harris, community does not mean consensus. He offers the metaphor of a city, allowing for consensus and conflict, rather than the idea of one utopian community because he doesn’t want no Jesuses in his Promise Land.
A characteristic of humanity is social contact, each individual needs significant social interaction. Not only must humans have interaction, but must share things in common to care and love. This h...
The communities that were talked about all experienced progressions to better ensure the individuals in that group--peculiarity, with the communities early on. As public opinion advanced and got more industrialized, the capacity to be more expressive in one's community became conceivable. At the point when two contrasting groups meet, the unified with the most power overcomes the weaker group.
“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 on new levels gaining a new perspective because they are able to collaborate with people from foreign cultures. If you are always with people of the same culture as you, you become used to hearing everything from the same perspective. With a new perspective, you can see your culture from a different point of view and reanalyze the logic behind your cultural traditions. Every ethnic/ religious/ regional/ cultural group has its high and low points, and it is just as important to learn about the low points as it is to learn about the highs. Gloria Anzaldua’s essay, “how to tame a wild tongue”, focuses on the ideas of losing an accent or native language to conform to the dominant culture.
In his book The Community of Those Who Have Nothing in Common, Alphonso Lingis (1994) discusses community and proposes an untraditional view of community, the “other community”. Traditionally community is known as a social structure in which individuals have something in common. This usually refers to a shared location, shared identity or common values or beliefs. In this traditional view or “rational community” these commonalities are crucial in uniting individuals.
Pomeranz, Kenneth, James Buchanan. Given, Laura Jane Mitchell, and Robert L. Tignor.Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A Companion Reader. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2011. Print.
Pratt, Mary Louise. “Arts of the Contact Zone.” Ways of Reading 8th Edition. Eds. David Bartholomae, A.P. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2008. 499-511.
Nichols, B. 1994. Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Community is like a Venn diagram. It is all about relations between a finite group of people or things. People have their own circles and, sometimes, these circles overlap one another. These interceptions are interests, common attitudes and goals that we share together. These interceptions bond us together as a community, as a Venn diagram. A good community needs good communication where people speak and listen to each other openly and honestly. It needs ti...
Newman, David. 2010. “Seeing and Thinking Sociologically.” Sociology: Exploring the architecture of everyday life: 8th edition, edited by D.Newman. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, Sage Publications Company.
Pratt, Mary Louise. “Arts of the Contact Zone.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 9th ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky, Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 485-497. Print.
According to Meriam-Webster, community is defined as “a group of people who live in the same area (such as a city, town, or neighborhood)” and “a group of people who have the same interests, religion, race, etc”. Many people think of a community as a group of people interacting in a common location. However, to me, a community is a network of people with a common goal, agenda, or concern, individuals who collaborate with one another by sharing information, ideas and other resources. A community consists of individuals who look to form relationships overtime and help one another in their future aspirations. Furthermore, I believe there are three key aspects that define a community; geography, one’s identity and
Two of the four coordinates that are completely opposite from each other on this theoretical framework include “Individual” and “Collective.” According to classical theory, “Individual are the patterns of social life which are seen as emerging from ongoing interaction, and Collective are the patterns of social life which are seen as the product of existing structural arrangements” (Appelrouth...
Consider a situation where a family is sitting at the dining table, the son pull out his iPhone, connects to Wi-Fi, and starts chatting with his friends on “Facebook”. The father has a Samsung Galaxy S4 in his hands and he is reading the newspaper online and using “Whatsapp” messenger while having his meal. The mother is busy texting her friends. They are all “socializing” but none of them has spoken as much as a single word to each other. This situation can be commonly seen nowadays. Technology has brought us closer and squeezed the distances but in reality, it has taken us away from each other. The rapid growth of technology has brought about significant changes in human lives, especially in their relationships. The latest technologies have turned this world into a “global village” but the way humans interact with each other, the types of relations and their importance has changed a lot. The advancement in technology has brought us close but has also taken us apart.