Contact Zones in Chicano Culture Essay Example for Free

Contact Zones in Chicano Culture Essay Meeting someone from another culture expands your knowledge of the world. As you receive new information, you are giving some of your own. The experience of two different people meeting is far less than the experience of two different cultures of people meeting. The most common outcome of these meeting is one culture dominates over the other. This domination eventually leads to hatred towards the oppressors, until the dominated are free. Over many years, the dominated population has integrated their culture with the dominant one but there is still conflict. In â€Å"Arts of a Contact Zone† Mary Louise Pratt writes about the effects of a contact zone, when two different cultures meet and interact, and why it is good. Contact zones bring people together to share ideas and cultures but it can also lead to slavery and conquest . We will focus on one effect: literate arts. Some of the literate arts are autoethnography, transculturation, bilingualism, critique, and denunciation. These literate arts are ways people use language to express a clash of two cultures. An â€Å"autoethnographic text†, a text that a writer uses to respond to the way other people sees their ethnic group, uses things familiar with a dominant race to make a point. Pratt gave us an example of â€Å"autoethnographic text† called New Chronicle and Good Government by Guaman Poma. The title New Chronicle comes from the name of the apparatus used by the Spanish to present their American Conquests to themselves. Poma uses this to create a new picture of the world by rewriting the Christian history with the Andeans at the center of the religion. The new â€Å"Christian-Inca† history resembled European manners and custom descriptions but included the meticulous details of information stored in the Inca societies. Poma used this manner to write his letter to make a parody the Europeans could understand. Glorias Anzaldua essays â€Å"Entering into the Serpent† and â€Å"How to Tame a Wild Tongue† are examples of an â€Å"autoethnographic text. † She uses her essays to destroy some of the stereotypes readers have before they read her essays. Some of the stereotypes of Chicano are they are hated by the US and Latinos and have a conflicted identity. The idea that Americans and Latinos hate Chicanos comes from the belief that they cannot identify with Standard English or Standard Spanish cultures. Since the Chicanos are born in the United States but are ethnically Mexican, they do not â€Å"belong† in the United States or Mexico. The hatred of Americans and Latinos caused the unknown identity of Chicanos. Transculturation occurs when two groups of people integrate different aspects of a culture with each other. An example of transculturation is Poma’s illustrations in New Chronicle and Good Government. The pictures had a European genre but they used Andean systems of spatial symbolism to express values and aspirations. In Anzaldua’s essays, we see transculturation in the religion. â€Å"My family, like most Chicanos, did not practice Roman Catholicism but a folk Catholicism with many pagan elements† (Anzaldua 73). The Roman Catholicism that was the religion of the Spaniards intermingled with Anzaldua’s â€Å"snake religion† to form the folk Catholicism version of la Virgen Guadalupe as Coatlalopeuh. Transculturation and autoethnography both manipulate language. Anzaldua wrote the essays in English and Spanish to identify herself with the Chicano and show us her experience with English speaking people. Poma’s wrote his letter in Quechua and Spanish so both cultures could understand the main points of the letter. In childhood we were told that our language is wrong. Repeated attacks at our native tongue diminish our sense of self. The attacks continue throughout our lives. Chicanas feel uncomfortable talking in Spanish to Latinas, afraid of their censure. Their language was not outlawed in their countries. But for a language to remain alive, it must be used. By the end of this century English, and not Spanish, will be the mother tongue of most Chicanos and Latinos (Anzaldua 89) The language of a culture identifies a person. If someone’s language is banned it makes the person feel unwelcome so to fit in they speak the main language but wonder what is wrong with their own language. When Chicanos speak Spanish they â€Å"spoil† the language and when they speak English they are traitors. This idea of having a wrong language causes confusion and shame, which will lead to not a Chicano identity but an American identity. By identifying with her culture, she creates a known identity for her people. Chicano Spanish is unlike English or Spanish but a combination of both, which results in bilingualism. Anzaldua’s first essay shows us what her religion meant to her, and she blames and criticizes the Catholics for taking away her sexual identity. Before the Spaniards conquest, the male dominated Azteca-Mexica culture had replaced all the female deities with male ones. This replacement split the female deities and the female self. If there were no female (spirit) deities then there was no female identity, according to Anzaldua. After the Conquest, Guadalupe became a virgin and all the other female deities (snake goddesses) were whores. The change in identity of these female deities encourages the virgin/whore dichotomy. This separation of mind and body made it hard for her to find her sexual identity. Pratt’s definition of a contact zone makes it a wonderful and horrible place to be but Anzaldua seems to disagree. Anzaldua’s experience with Catholic people seemed to be the worst thing that happened to her. These chapters from her book Borderlands/La frontera only show one type of opinion with no other positive outlooks. Her dislike of the Catholics inspires her to write these chapters to show us how her life was like and to â€Å"blame† everyone who reads her book. She was not able to have a true contact zone through her experience so she is unwilling to understand the Catholic religion. Anzaldua’s essays are another example for Pratt to use in her essay. The concept of literate arts is present throughout. The essays mainly show the bad parts of Anzaldu’s contact zones but that is the main result of contact zones with a dominant culture. Even though Anzaldua may not agree this is a contact zone. Her bias shows the readers the horrors of her cultures past to encourage a response.

Transmission of the Plague to Humans Essay -- Biology Medical Biomedic

Transmission of the Plague to Humans Abstract Yersinia pestis is a bacterium that has been well known to mankind for centuries. Its mechanisms of survival in wide variety of species are extraordinary. The power of this bacterium is dependent on its manipulation of the immune system of its host’s. Its means of survival in the flea and its use of the flea as a vector to other desirable hosts portray this bacterium’s true capability. This flea is the main cause of the bacterium to other animals, especially humans. However, the bacterium does not just stop here; it uses its coded proteins to inhibit the host’s immune system and the host’s cellular functions to aid in its survival in the organism. One of the most deadly diseases to strike mankind is the plague. The plague has survived for centuries and has claimed the lives of millions throughout the years. The plague is caused by a gram-negative bacterium known as Yersinia pestis. There have been three major pandemics due to this bacterium. Although it does not seem as deadly now as it was in the Middle Ages, it is still very much alive and present. There are three types of plague: the bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic plague. The bubonic and septicimic plague are only transmitted by the flea, but the pneumonic plague can spread through the air in droplets or by physical contact. At times, transmission can also occur from infected rodents, cats or other animals through bites and scratches (Phillips, 2004). The bacteria’s key for survival lies in its vast variety of hosts. Its mechanism in manipulating the host’s cellular functions has enabled it to take control and survive through the years. However, the process that the bacteria must go through in order to infect a human relie... ...berlain/Website/lectures/lecture/plague.htm 2. Jarrett, C. et al. Transmission of Yersinia pestis from an infectious biofilm in the flea vector. Journal of Infectious Diseases. (2004) v190 I4 p783 3. Kool, J. (2005). Risk of Person-to-Person Transmission of Pneumonic Plague. Healthcare Epedimiology. July 24, 2005: http://www.nycosh.org/workplace_hazards/Biosafety/PlagueArticle4-05.pdf 4. Kopp, E, Medzhitov, R (14 October 2002). A Plague on Host Defense. The Journal of Experimental Medicine. July 24, 2005: http://www.jem.org/cgi/content/full/jem.20021311v1 5. Phillips, F. (2004). Bioterrorism: Plague. Anne Arundel County Department of Health, Maryland. July 27, 2005: http://www.aahealth.org/physicianslink/bioterrorism_plague_overview.asp 6. Velendzas, D (2005). Plague. Emedicine. July 21, 2005: http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic428.htm#section~author_information

The Black Swan

Before the discovery of Australia, all the world had never seen a black swan before. An impossible accomplishment in someones life before this time was referred to as â€Å" a black swan.† The mere sight of one black swan after the discovery of Australia negated the thousands of years of sightings of white swans and thinking they were the only species of swan. This generalization that was put on the term â€Å"black swan† before the british occupation of Australia is just an example of the illustration of the human mind and how one sighting can alter the mindset of thousands of years of thinking. The author Nassim Taleb has donated his whole life to philosophy, uncertainty, probability and finance. Starting as a chauffeur, Nassim worked his way up to become a businessman trader and later a university professor. By using his theory of Mediocristan and Extremistan, Taleb explains how the impact of the highly improbable affects all of us and personally each person has a handful of â€Å"black swans† which alter our lives for the better , or the worse. Mediocristan are easy to predict events that are easy to mentally compute, while extremistan are events that are unpredictable and affect the world in a major way. The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb is a nonfiction philosophy book that expresses one mans theory on rare human events that happen without warning, yet greatly impact the world as we know it. This book can be seen as a memoir of Taleb’s life and how his research has been his black swan, and has driven him to take risks and go greater distances than he would have without the incentive. The purpose of this book is to inform the reader of the impact of the highly unpredictable. A black swan , in terms of an event has 3 properties, 1. It is hard to predict based on historical information, 2. Low predictability – High consequence , 3. The events are perspectively unpredictable yet retrospectively predictable. The black swan events happen in everyones lives, or at least â€Å"affect† everyone lives. For example one of the most famous black swans in recent history is the invention of the computer and world wide web. Originally seen as a stock bubble by intel, is now a multi trillion dollar industry and a large part of the world are in contact with it. The book embarks on many peoples journeys and encounters with black swans, all encounters were unexpected but altered the peoples lives in a major way. The book takes place in Lebanon but mostly New York, where ironically many of the black swans happen. Having to do with different mathematical formulas, Taleb’s book hits the major focal points of rare events and that everyone encounters them making all people black swans in there own way. This book should be read by anyone interested in philosophy or the stock market. Although people don’t see it this way, but the stock market is directly affected by black swans and such things mentioned in the book as Gaussin’s bell curve or mediocristan and extremistan. These formulas and theory’s affect the market and affect the life of people. This book was very interesting and after reading it, the reader gets a different view on life and how major events in there life time, ex. ( 9/11, invention of the computer†¦) affect there life and impact there day to day progress as a human being.

The Joy of Learning Essay - 729 Words

The Joy of Learning According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, (to) learn is defined as â€Å"to gain knowledge, understanding or skill by study or exposure.† However, this is just a definition and does not give the true meaning of the word. It can not describe the true joy of finally learning and understanding something that has proven difficult. I believe that feeling can be facilitated with a teacher who understand those emotions. I have known teachers who truly portray their love for the art of teaching through their awareness of those special emotions and by allowing those emotions to work for them. This concept of facilitated learning has been widely discussed in theories. Some of the more popular†¦show more content†¦Students do not merely receive information-they construct knowledge by incorporating new information into existing knowledge. I think the cognitivist that most reflects my philosophy is Jean Piaget. His stages of cognitive development are very interesting. It is motivating for a pre-service teacher like me to be able to identify with these stages. Although I have not yet has field experiences, these cognitive development stages hold true for my own experiences with learning and school. As I hope to teach French or Theatre in either junior high or high school, I can expect for most of my students to be in the formal operational or at least in a transition from the concrete operational to the formal operational. One other of Piaget’s ideas that I think that will be relevant to my teaching is his idea of cooperative learning. This is the one that will be the most prevalent and the most obvious in my teaching style. Although lecture is important and works well for some subjects, I believe this style will work best for the subjects I am teaching. French and theatre seem to be made for this style of teaching. In my own experience, I find I remember things better if I research them myself because I am more intimate with that subject. Having taken both French and Theatre classes, I would definitely have to say that it is moreShow MoreRelatedImportance Of Joy Of Learning986 Words   |  4 Pageslike learning? Nowadays, several people are placing more importance to education, while only a few of them care about how efficient they are learning.Maybe we can experiencing joy in learning to prove the learning efficiency.In my opinion, joy plays a very significant role in learnin g and let us talk about this topic.   Ã‚  Ã‚  I read the article †joy: A subject schools lack† that is written by Susan Engel. Engel talks about children have their own way to learn because of their huge capacity for joy andRead More Mother Daughter Relationships - Learning from Mother in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club966 Words   |  4 PagesLearning from Mother in The Joy Luck Club      Ã‚   I have already experienced the worst. After this, there is no worst possible thing (Amy Tan 121). 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