The Phenomenon of Autoethnography - Essay Example

Autoethnography Mary Louise Pratt defines contact zone as a meeting space of two or more cultures. The zone suffers from conflicts caused by differing beliefs and characters. Similarly, Pratt explains autoethnography as a genre of resistance, where the auto ethnographer represents his/her culture from its perspective. In the process of representing one’s culture, the person will use the language styles of the dominant culture (Pratt 42). The dominant culture can find this quite subversive since it destroys delusions of equality. On the contrary, the oppressed culture can find it beneficial since it can portray itself on its values and principles, and thus conserve its stand. Although conflicts and disagreements are bound to happen in a contact zone, the different cultures in the zone can solve them by striving to understand each other and live together in unity. The films ‘The Emerald Forest’ and “Ten Canoes provide a good illustration of this point. The two films illustrate scenarios where two or more cultures meet and spark conflicts, but autoethnography allows them to develop interest in each other and live in unity. Autoethnography involves the oppressed group regulating what it accepts from the dormant group, a process called transculturation. The oppressed people regulate what they accept from the oppressor and blend it with native ideas to come up with a new culture. The film The Emerald Forest, gives a good picture of how this regulation takes place. For instance, I find scenario of the chief of the Fierce People trying to learn the technological device left behind by Markham most appropriate in explaining this idea. The chief attempts to blend this new technology to what he knows. Failure leads him and his tribesmen to seek assistance. The pursuit for a solution to how the carbine works leads them to forge an agreement with owners of a brothel. The Fierce people agreed to bring some women in exchange of firearms. Later, Tomme rescues the women with the help of his father and other people. Tomme and his tribe can live peacefully and accepts new ways and people from other cultures. Additionally, the film The Emerald Forest largely portrays the concept of the contact zone as presented by Pratt. The colonization increases the influx of many people from different cultures around the globe. Colonial era in Brazil led to the developments and land utilization, which affected the native cultures. The clearing of large areas of forests to allow for construction displaced the forest tribesmen since it interfered with their habitats. For example, the construction of a dam displaced The Fierce People and the Invisible people. The natives tried to express themselves in the language in which the oppressors’ group could understand. The tribesman communicated to Tommy in Tommy’s language. The language thus united Tommy with the tribesmen. Autoethnography allows the oppressed cultures to express their feelings in order to save themselves and establish peace (Pratt 47). However, the cultures should not be alone in their struggles, but should seek help from the dominant culture. The dominant culture can have members that value equality, who can assist the oppressed culture by giving them room to present themselves. For instance, the film Ten Canoes describes the beautiful events that took place before the advent of western contact in Arnhem Land. The contact zone between the western culture with the local cultures lead to conflicts. The oppression of the western culture led to diminishing of cultural values of the Arnhemians such as hunting goose and polygamy. Thus, what I can conclude from this scenario is that the film creators valued equality and were trying to help local Australians to experience good life before the colonial era. Autoethnography enables the dominant group to understand the form of expression used by the oppressed cultures for the two differing cultures to understand each other. In the film The Emerald Forest, Bill tries to learn some few local Indian dialects in the quest of finding his son. Since the Invisible people preserved their culture, Bill was finally able to identify them by the help of local Indians on the river. However, Bill disregards their assistance due to his cynic and sarcastic nature. A conflict zone emerges where the Fierce People fight with Bill and a journalist, both from the invading culture. The Fierce people express their hatred by attacking the two foreigners. Bill manages to escape while the journalist dies in the battle. However, after finding his son, the Fierce people in hot pursuit found them, and the fight starts again. With the help of his formidable weapon, the carbine, Bill and his son can fight off the Fierce people and manage to escape. However, he loses the carbine. Markham later learns to understand and respect the culture of the Invisible people who abducted his son, although he later finds himself back in civilization. Another illustration of contact zone that I noticed in the film can be explained through De Heer. De Heer was a white director who directed the ‘Ten Canoes’, an indigenous story. He was thus an auto ethnographer who had to learn the cultures of the indigenous people while preserving his culture. The contact zone led to some people not accepting the fact that a white folk can make an indigenous story. However, learning the cultures of the indigenous people in order to direct a film enabled them to admire him. The autoethnography concept enables the subjugated culture to express itself in a way that the dominant group will understand while retaining the character of the subjugated group (Pratt 49). The tribesman in The Emerald Forest expressed his admiration for Tommy by comparing him to his native surrounding, the green forest. Therefore, the act shows that the oppressed tribesmen preserved their values and beliefs, but communicated to Tommy with the foreign language (Pratt 45). Their friendly act persuaded Tommy to love them. Nevertheless, the tribesmen abduct him since he does not want the boy to be with the strange people that have brought conflict to their beautiful inhabitant. The act makes Markham and his people feel bad that the Invisible people cheated and took the boy. The Invisible tribe tries to immerse Tommy in its way of life. Tommy finally conforms to its cultural practices. The oppressed Invisible people can preserve their cultural practices to the extent of influencing Tommy to adopt their lifestyle. Autoethnography points out that each culture should have an ambient space that allows it to be itself. The oppressed groups should have places where the dominant group does not force them to conform to its sensibilities (Pratt 46). However, that does not imply that the oppressed groups should withdraw from the larger society. In a story within the film Ten Canoes, a contact zone is evident where Ridjimiraril kills a member of a neighboring tribe. He had mistaken this person to be the kidnapper of his second wife. The offending tribe allowed the tribe of the slain man to spear the offender and his companion from a distance. Thus, the offending tribe helped to preserve unity and peace by allowing the offended group to practice its tribal law. It showed that the former tribe value equality and helped the offended tribe to practice its laws without restriction. Therefore, the action brings out the concept of autoethnography in a very clear way. Members from different cultures have different values and views. When they come together, they can be in conflict with each other if they cannot find a common ground that fosters peace, love, and unity. The different cultures in the two films, The Emerald Forest and Ten Canoes were initially in conflict with one another. However, autoethnography allowed them to understand each other and establish a long-lasting unity. Indeed, the two films illustrate well the concepts of autoethnography and contact zone, as explained by Pratt. Thus, I would recommend them for any person interested in understanding these two components deeply. Works Cited Pratt, M. L. "Arts of the Contact Zone." Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Bartholomae and Tony Petrosky. 5th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 41-50. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. . Read More