The discussion of minorities has become a hot topic in today’s society however this is not anything new. Minorities being, well, minorities has dated back to even the 1600s when Guaman Poma wrote his lengthy letter to King Phillip III. Back then, minorities did not quite have as much of a voice as they do today. Throughout the years, the definition of a “minority” has not changed, but the way it was interpreted has. You could be considered a minority if you do not speak the dominant language, if you are not of the european origin (or more recently caucasian), or if you are a female. Times have changed, but Pratt exposes, specifically, Poma’s non-dominant points of view and how they eventually shed light on other minorities being forgotten in their own society.

​

Pratt explains that in Poma’s letter to King Phillip III, “[he] exemplified the sociocultural complexities produced by conquest and empire” (Pratt 34). She goes on to elaborate how Poma claimed [that Saint Bartholomew] preceded Columbus in [discovering] the Americas. Was this the beginning of minorities not receiving proper credit? To refresh your memory from that middle school history class, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Columbus was indeed of European descent so when he accidentally found the Americas, of course he would be the one to receive credit. Poma picked up on the unheard and misinterpreted voices in society, then used these observations to create New Chronicle, the first part of his letter. This autoethnographic text almost mocked Andeans for who they were and who people saw them as. Figure 2, one of the graphics in Poma’s letter, shows a Spaniard and an Inca talking about what they both see as “gold.” The Inca makes the Spaniard look foolish because their ideas of gold are two different things, but the Spaniard does not know that. Poma’s parody of this situation shows his intelligence, which one might not expect from a minority. 

​

Through Poma’s writing, he “mirrors back to the Spanish… an image of themselves that they often suppress and will therefore surely recognize” (Pratt 35). The situation of the Spaniards’ place in society versus Poma’s place in society can be compared to slavery in the Americas. Europeans found a people group that were not like them so they immediately classified this people group as less-than. The Europeans lacked a growth mindset and were not willing to develop a knowledgeable foundation to educate themselves on this decision. Instead, they took it upon themselves to enslave this entire race. Years after Lincoln freed the slaves, some of them spoke out and wrote books. Frederick Douglass was a good example of letting others in to see things from the slave’s point of view. As it is stated in How People Learn, “Knowledge of a large set of disconnected facts is not sufficient,” instead we must delve deeper into inquiry and enter all situations with a growth mindset (How People Learn 3). Slave owners had a fixed mindset and only had the knowledge of a few “disconnected facts” which led to uneducated assumptions about minorities in society, similar to how the Spaniards thought of the Andeans (How People Learn 3).

​

Poma uses his Incan background to his advantage even though he was seen as a minority. He brought to light what usually stays in the dark and created a literal contact zone through his text. He talked about how the Spaniards view themselves versus how the Incans see them. Similar to former slaves talking about how European-Americans viewed themselves as opposed to how the slaves viewed their slave owners. In both these situations, the dominant party refused a growth mindset; “they [ran] from the error, they [didn’t] engage with it” and take that opportunity to learn (Dweck). 

​

Poma’s autoethnographic text can be seen as “heterogeneous on the reception end as well as the production end: it will read differently to people in different positions in the contact zone” (Pratt 37). When the Incans read that text they took away something very different than when the Spaniards read it. Back to the example of slaves and slave owners, someone reading a book written by a former slave rubs differently depending on which group they affiliate(d) with; “one party [was] exercising authority and another [was] submitting to it” (Pratt 38). 

​

Throughout history it has been proven time and time again, minorities tend to be looked over while the credit or praise if given to the dominant party. It was seen with the discovery of DNA. Watson and Crick were given the credit because they were male in a society where females were not supposed to be scientists. In reality Rosalind Franklin “deduced the basic dimensions of DNA strands...  a helical structure” (Conova). Columbus received credit for Bartholomew’s work. An entire race was enslaved simply because they looked different; doing the dirty work for the “dominant” race. Situations like these have made minorities feel “like [they are] nothing… like [they are] nowhere” (Dweck). Having a growth mindset enables minorities to have a voice. As Dweck so exquisitely said in her TED Talk, “once we know abilities are capable of such growth, it’s a basic human right for [them] to live in places that create growth,” and that can only happen if minorities are respected as much as everyone else (Dweck).

 

Works Cited:

Conova, Susan. “The DNA Molecule is Shaped like a Twisted Ladder.” DNA From the Beginning. 2011. http://www.dnaftb.org/19/bio-3.html

Dweck, Carol. “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Nov. 2014, https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en#t-31010

How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice. “Chapter 2 Key Findings.” National Research Council. 1999. How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. DOI: 10.17226/9457

Pratt, Mary Louise. “Arts of the Contact Zone.” Responsibility for Literacy Conference, September 1990, Pittsburgh, PA. Keynote Address.