KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, BUT ONLY WHEN SHARED
I once read that keeping knowledge to oneself doesn’t help anybody; you won’t know
what you know and others won’t know what you know. This is a very true. As I read Pratt’s
essay on “Arts of Literacy of the Contact Zone”, I could relate to the “Contact Zone” in my own
life. In Pratt’s essay when she writes about Guaman Poma and the Spaniards, I felt this strong
connection. I completely understood what Guaman Poma was going through when he was trying
to communicate to the Spaniards. I also have been on the “other” side. This is what Pratt would
refer to as “A Contact Zone”, a place where different people make contact in their own terms.
Pratt also calls contact zones - areas which allow the intermingling of two or more cultures.
There is also this assumption that there is a fraternity amongst all people.
One example of this “Contact Zone” is of minorities trying to fit in a world most AngloAmerican would call Utopian. But it is a very different world to many minorities. It’s a place that
tries to erase cultures and to disempower minorities. It is all about power and a division of
power. There is a vertical hierarchy of power and minorities are rarely given credit for their
attributions in American History. It is completely evident when analyzing the historical timelines
between Public Broadcasting System (PBS) “African American World”, Scholastic Evolution of
Black History “Culture and Change and lastly from Blackpost.org “The Black Past Remembered
and Reclaimed”. It is clear to see the differences between the number of events presented by
BlackPast.org and the number of events presented in the other two timelines. BlackPast.org has a
very friendly-user site and the pictures on the home page show of white collared African
Americans. They have the Year, Events, Subjects, Country, and Era listed and it is very easy to
read and notice the amount of contributions that Africans gave to America. They also have an
array of primary resources, digital archives, online encyclopedias, and a lot more resources to
research and learn from. They have the true stories of American history right from the sources.
In contrast, Scholastic which is a children’s book publishing organization and an
educational source for schools and as well as PBS, both express a whole different perceptive of
American history. There site is very confusing, you don’t even feel like browsing because it
seems so unimportant and vague. The pictures posted show half-naked weak looking African
Americas Slaves. This is the picture they chose to symbolize African Americans. Also PBS has a
picture of an African American giving his back to the site and not very clear. It seems to imply
that African American people had very little contribution to our American history, whereas
BlackPast.org’s timeline expresses a whole different view of African American’s contribution.
The mainstream historical accounts seem to downsize the African Americans contributions to
American history, thus disempowering them to a lower standard in society and hierarchy. PBS
and Scholastic are surely owned by White Elite Men and want their version of history to be
taught to America to disempower the African Americans.
Moreover, when I was a small child, my father, use to talk to me about our MexicanAmerican history. The stories my father use to tell were always very interesting. But, when I
started school in the United States, I had a whole different version of American history. I became
confused and didn’t know the real story of American-History. It always sounded biased to me as
compared to the version that my father would explain it to me. I always use to yearn to hear the
real stories, histories, struggles and triumphs of people of color on their own terms, not just
Euro-Centric biases. I think that I would have been more engaged; a better student and that I
would have had higher achievement, if only, I could have felt a sense of pride that develops
through accomplishments of my own Mexican-American history. This to me is what Pratt refers
to as “Imagined Communities”; the imagined communities that embrace every culture equally.
This is not a reality, just imagined.
Pratt refers to the contact zones as the imaginary spaces where differences and
inequalities exist. She also refers to social spaces as a place 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"
She talks about how sometimes contact zones can be a positive thing or a negative thing. I
believe the positive aspect of multiculturalism is the joining of differences. It can provide
interests, ideas other perspectives, but the negative aspect of it, is that it can also make people
feel uncomfortable.
Similarity, in “Tales from Two Textbooks,” by Terrie Epstein, she elaborates between the
many differences of actual historical accounts. Epstein says that history accounts have an ability
to empower or disempower specific groups of people, especially those considered “minorities”.
Epstein says, there are implications to this one-sided teaching. Epstein seems to promote a
curriculum that better presents content that would enable students to develop their own sense of
empowerment and efficacy over their lives and their destinies” (p.131.) In our American society
we seem to discredit all minorities instead of embracing and sharing knowledge and all of its
accomplishments.
My own personal thought we should incorporate different perspectives and include
different types of pedagogy of literacy. I totally agree with Pratt’s suggestion that we should
have a more transcultural and collaborative work learning environment. We should be able to
communicate in our own terms. All people should be able to learn about their own culture to see
where their roots traced back to legacies of both glory and shame. Even though may cause rage,
incomprehension and pain there is mutual understanding and new wisdoms---the joys of the
contact, I believe that every individual has a unique gift to offer and we should open our minds
and understand from every perceptive. I believe that having more than one perspective can
broaden our horizons.