Art's Of The Contact Zone By Mary Louise Pratt

Baker is saying that those who attempted to write of their experiences as a slave faced the daunting task of not offending the white culture or risk not being heard. This was the basic conclusion that I came to when I first read this text, but it was not until later that I came to understand this societal pressure to write in a certain way is still just another form of oppression.

To define this type of oppression, I reference this section from Mary Louise Pratt's "Art's of the Contact Zone": "....in order to lay out some thoughts about writing and literacy in what I LIKE TO CALL CONTACT ZONES. I use this term to refer to social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power..." Using this idea of the contact zone puts Jacobs' efforts in a new light. Jacobs undertook her endeavor with the understanding she was coming form an inferior position and trying to gain the respect and response from those perceived to be superior to her. In addition to
When describing the wife of her master, she says: "Mrs. Flint, like many southern women, was totally deficient in energy. She had not strength to superintend her household affairs; but her nerves were so strong." Jacobs understood that in order to be read, she could not just attack those who oppressed her, she needed to say something positive to go along with the negative. No need to offend the sensibilities of the white northern woman. This can be seen when Jacobs says: "The degradation, the wrongs, the vices that grow out of slavery, are more than I CAN DESCRIBE. They are greater than you would willingly believe". Even after attaining her freedom and relating her story years later, Jacobs still puts herself in a subordinate position, none more so than when she tells the reader of her decision to get back at her master by taking a