Chaos in the Contact Zone: Unpredictability, Improvisation and the Struggle for Control in Cultural Encounters (Culture & Theory)

Cultural encounters are often being stylized not only as experiences of uncontrollability and unpredictability par excellence, but also as challenges to planning and predicting. The history, the different forms and the consequences of this phenomenon are the main issues discussed in this volume. The contributions show that chaos and control are not mutually exclusive in the "contact zone" (Mary Louise Pratt); on the contrary, they stand in relation to each other - be it as a competence or as an interpretive scheme. Cover -- Table of Contents -- The Emergence and Domestication of Chaos in the Contact Zone. "The Rusty Giant from Rostock" or the "Koloss von Züros"--The "Jewish Indian Theory". The Problem of the Origin of the American Populations -- On the Cultural Coding of Skin Colour in Early Modern Contact Zones -- Islands in the Maelstrom. East German Families' Coping with Chaos in the Unification Contact Zone -- Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. Stories of Misunderstandings, Concepts of Culture and the Process of European Expansion -- Walking Backwards to the Future, Facing the Past. The Conception of Time in Andean Philosophy -- Many Worlds, Many Stories. Towards a Multiplication of Perspectives on Early Modern Cultural Encounters -- The Contingency of Cultural Negotiations in Cross-Border Networks. The BRICS Case -- Unexpected Outcomes of the Portuguese Encounter in Sri Lanka. Innovation and Hybridity -- Enriching Repertoires. Code-Blending and Linguistic Transfer in the Contact Zone -- From Early Country Blues to Rap -- Authors