Contact Zones

My first thought while reading this was that Pratt sounded like she was trying to sell Baseball Cards. I used to work at a hobby shop and whenever parents would come in with their kids we would tell them how their child's chosen hobby would aid their learning process. Just like Baseball cards, we were making a case for reading, math, critical thinking, and basically anything else you can think of.

However, what I really think she was getting at was that these "Contact Zones" can often teach us much more than traditional schooling. If the Spanish and the Andeans had gotten along as Guaman Poma had suggested, they would have had a great mutual benefit and may have each become much more powerful than Spain ever did. This theory works the same today, which is what Pratt was trying to show with her Baseball Card analogy. Her son and his friend learned much more by working together and trading the cards than they ever would have by themselves.