The title of this blog comes from my first exposure to the concept of the "contact zone": an article by Min-Zhan Lu entitled, "Representing and Negotiating Differences in the Contact Zone." The article, though overwhelming to my freshman sentimentalities, was jarring to me. It rattled my understanding of cross-cultural interaction and really challenged me (at least that of which I could at the time understand) to think about how I viewed people that were not like me. Though I had never been uneasy around other cultures (and I understand this is probably the same position that most white middle class people like to assume about themselves) I had never really gone out of my way to actually and purposefully engage with other cultures. I can remember feeling so disappointed in myself and in my history of practicing, as Lu says, cultural tourism, or calling it cultural interaction when it is really cultural observation, and from a safe distance. The article, using a tourist bus metaphor (and a very handy narrative) suggests that we stop looking at other cultures through safe partitions and step off of the bus and start to really engage with the culture.
Out of all the things I have read as an undergraduate and graduate student, Lu's article has continued to stay close to my intellectual surface, feeling oddly fresh in my mind and constantly convicting. Though as a freshman I did not understand everything Lu was arguing, the power of her metaphorical narrative resonated with me and still does to this day. It is a simple request of humanity and yet it so challenging, though ultimately rewarding: to step off of the bus.
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