Faar

Jamie Schiller English 114 09/12/12 Difficulty Paper 1 If 1 thinks of cultures, or literatures, as discrete, coherently structured, monolingual edifices, Guaman Pomas text, and thusly any autoethnographic work, appears anomalous or chaotic as it apparently did to the European scholars Pietschmann spoke to in 1912. If one does not think of cultures this way, then Guanman Pomas text is hardly heterogeneous, as the Andean region was itself and dust today. Such a text is heterogeneous on the reception end as well as the production end it will read very assortedly to people in assorted positions in the contact zone. (page 492) I found this passage unmanageable because it uses many terms that I was only introduced to when I started reading Mary Louise Pratts essay. It is hard to follow because it uses difficult terms and packs a lot of data into a small amount of writing. Mary Louise Pratt introduces several concepts in the same passage, which was both overwhelming and distracting . It was difficult to understand the passage in its entirety the first time I read it, but afterwards rereading the passage several times and giving it some thought, I think I may withdraw a better understanding of what the author was trying to convey to her audience.I think that Mary Louise Pratt is saying that Guanman Pomas text can be interpreted in more than one way. She uses the term heterogeneous, which heart incongruous or unlike. This suggests that the text was complex and thus could easily be misinterpreted. If two people apiece have a different perspective of a certain society or culture is different from someone elses, they probably will not share the same understanding of Pomas work. Guanman Pomas garner to the king were written in two languages. This could be a reason why people who assure cultures as coherently structured, monolingual edifices may find his work chaotic and confusing.The European scholars the Pietschmann spoke to in 1912 would not have been able t o fully understand Guanman Pomas work because they do not consume transcultural understanding. The part of the passage that states that, If one does not think of cultures this way, then Guanman Pomas text is simply heterogeneous, as the Andean region was itself and remains today, suggests that those who come from a contact zone, where two different cultures intermingle, would be able to understand Guanman Pomas message more easily.This might be caused by the occurrence that they are familiar with more than one culture existing together and therefore would not be confused or overwhelmed by Pomas letters. This passage connects to the rest of Pratts essay because it talks roughly autoethnographic texts and transcultration. Pratt introduced both of these terms in her essay because she views them as the phenomenon of the contact zone.