December 16, 2015 - 17:04
Ecological Contact Zones, or Contact Zones of Ecology
Towards the end of the semester, our class started exploring the role of environment in regards to identity after looking at identity in a more isolated way at the beginning of the class. In this essay, I will apply the concepts of ecological intelligence and permeable membranes from my last essay to the second essay based on Mary Louise Pratt’s “Arts of the Contact Zone.” This will place the power dynamics of contact zones within an ecological framework, in which identities we previously viewed as isolated will now be part of an inseparable environment. I will continue to use the E-sem class experience from the last essay and reuse my kindergarten classroom experience from the second essay.
A question I left unanswered in the last essay was what role power plays in ecological intelligence. While Alaimo described a very fluid flow of power between bodies, Freire’s idea of power was much more structured power dynamic between teachers and students, while students were still the subjects of their own learning. I will explore the idea further here by questioning what inherent power dynamics exist in ecology and what power dynamics are of our own creation. In the E-sem class, it was obvious that Anne was our professor, and that idea was easily accepted by the students and was left unquestioned. Oxford English Dictionary defines power as the “Ability to act or affect something strongly; physical or mental strength” (Def. 1a), “political or national strength” (Def. 1b), “control or authority over others...government, command, sway” (Def. 2a), and “capacity to direct or influence the behavior of others” (Def. 2c). Compared to her students, Anne has more ability to claim her role as a teacher, having many more years of experience. (This became really obvious when we, the students, attempted to teach Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction, to the class.) The students meet with Anne in a contact zone in which Anne has more ability, and therefore more power, than the students do. However, this occurs in the context of an educational institution, which amplifies the “capacity to direct or influence the behavior of others” within a “political” system of “control and authority over others.” Regardless, we (the students) seem comfortable enough within this ecological contact zone that we come to class and don’t have any reason to fight against the surrounding power structure. On the other hand, I felt uncomfortable enough in my kindergarten class that I reclaimed power through the appropriation of classroom activities, as detailed in my second essay. The power dynamics in this situation were dependent on race and culture, “as a second generation Chinese immigrant abruptly thrust into an American education system” (Zhang). While the racism I experienced was inherent in the institution I was in, as it was created for white students, the concepts of race and racism was created by humans at one point. All the power dynamics I described here seem both inherent and created; we meet up in contact zones by chance, existing within institutions in which a comfortable hegemony exists or the oppression is too much to bear. However, the idea of “creating” power structures is problematic when thinking ecologically, as it erases the contributions of an entire ecosystem, making it impossible for any human to act in isolation. In other words, power structures are not inherent or created, but simply exist in a complex ecological network.
The institutional racism I experienced in my kindergarten class is what made the situation uncomfortable enough for me to attempt to reclaim power on my own. But that doesn’t mean that racial power dynamics were nonexistent in my E-sem class. The difference between these two experiences are due to the transfers of power that occurs between bodies in the E-sem class. Our class is structured as a discussion, which transfers power from Anne to the students. Although the opportunity is given to all students in the class, it is not taken up equally by every student, resulting in spread out but still existing power differences. This is due to the diverse experiences we all bring into the classroom, that clash into each other in contact zones. In a framework of ecological intelligence, power is dependent on the environment in which it can be executed. In other words, how able one is in comparison to those around them. However, an ecological thinking of power does not negate the existence of institutionalized racism, sexism, ableism, etc. as explained earlier. In addition, the transfer of power around the students in the class requires Anne to have power in the first place, such as when she calls on people who haven’t spoken. This action is a transfer of power from Anne to a student, but it is also a demonstration of power in itself and a reminder to the student of their own lack of power and dependency on those with more power. When we presented our projects to the class, we had power over the rest of the class but only within the framework already created by Anne and Jody. Within ecological contacts zones, power differences persist along with fluid power exchanges. As said by Alaimo, bodies are transformed in power by whatever it takes in, and power flows in and out of bodies in our class. However, despite the transfers of power between bodies, the bodies themselves still retain basic shape and size despite their permeable membranes. Similarly, all of the bodies in the classroom are both limited and empowered by their abilities in relation to all of the abilities within the environment.
Larval Subjects (Levi R. Bryant), Stacy Alaimo: Porous Bodies and Trans-Corporeality (May 24, 2012).
Freire, Paulo. The Importance of the Act of Reading. Trans. Loretta Slover. Brazilian Congress of Reading, Campinas, Brazil. November 1981. Rpt. Journal of Education 165, 1 (Winter 1983): 5-11.
"Power" Def. 1a. OED, Oxford English Dictionary, Dec. 2006. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.
"Power" Def. 1b. OED, Oxford English Dictionary, Dec. 2006. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.
"Power" Def. 2a. OED, Oxford English Dictionary, Dec. 2006. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.
"Power" Def. 2b. OED, Oxford English Dictionary, Dec. 2006. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.
Zhang, Angela. “A Classroom is not a Family.” Web blog post. Changing our Story 2015. Serendip Studio, 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 16. Dec. 2015.