Pratt et al

I paused at Pratt's definition of transculturation and read it a few times: "processes whereby members of subordinated or marginal groups select and invent from materials transmitted by a dominant or metropolitan culture." The concept sounded familiar, and then I remembered reading Juan Guerra's, a professor at UW, attempt to take transculturation a step further through something he calls transcultural repositioning. He suggests that the repositioning piece speaks to the change, or newfound awareness, that happens within people after they make their selections and inventions. In other words, "marginal groups" sort through both the gold and the hogwash they've been dealt from the dominant culture and reposition themselves (and their self-perceptions) accordingly.

Guerra and Pratt agree that this is not an easy concept to make space for in the classroom. It's not comfortable. It's not simple. It requires facing horrific historical realities and it refuses the allowance of hiding behind niceties. As Pratt says about the new course she taught, "No one was excluded, and no one was safe." If only we could all teach with this as our motto! I'm getting fired up now, but I think that's a brilliant way of viewing a classroom's energy and potential. While I hope all students feel safe, I'd rather have the entire class feel a bit unsafe than have one international (or "other") student feel alienated. That way, transculturation would no longer be the burden of students who've traditionally been left out, but instead all students would be called to practice it. Make any sense? It does to me, but maybe I'm just drunk on Blogg (oh wait, that was Glogg, a Scandinavian mulled wine I had at Christmastime).