Autoethnographic Text By Richard Rodriguez Summary

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I like to believe everyone has felt different, but that might not be the case. I know for a fact I have felt different, which is one of the reasons why I am the person I am today. Contact zones are Pratt’s biggest point in her essay, but she also discusses about ethnographic texts. An Ethnographic text is basically a biography, but it is not just based on your life but how your ethnicity affected your life. Rodriguez writes about his social and cultural difference and how he overcame them.
Richard Rodriguez’s essay can be considered an autoethnographic text. Which is an ethnographic text written about yourself. The main reason it can be described as one is because his whole essay is about his life, he grew up as an outsider to his family and …show more content…

“The boy who entered the classroom barely able to speak english.” This caused a culture/contact zone clash because the nuns had to teach him english while teaching him basic school subjects. Then when he finally spoke english he became an outsider at home. A conversation between him and his mother would be like, “Tell me about your new courses” “Nothing special just the usual” “Then Silence!” They lost the connection they once had because Rodriguez was getting more intelligent when his mother was not. Even today when he goes back home he feels like an outsider because he is a scholar and is not part of that “working class” his parents are …show more content…

This might sound silly but one of the most drastic changes for me was having to take a bus. I used to walk to school in California so I was able to leave whenever I felt like. The bus made me wake up super early because I was the first stop and also I had to be ready I could not make it wait. The neighborhood kids were used to this so they knew everyone that rode the bus and knew the bus driver, I had to develop that connection while everyone already had it. Besides making new friends the bus made me more punctual, I had to be awake at a certain time and follow my

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