...and it is hard to pinpoint exactly what it means. Does it have any meaning at all? The question of who the other is might seem useless, because in some way we are all “others” to someone, and everyone else is “other” to us. We can never fully know the other, and even if we strive to do so, “the other” is constantly changing. At the same time, there can be no “I” without a relation to and a concept of the other. We need something that in some degree is different from ourselves to actually constitute a self. When we “other” another group, we point out their perceived weaknesses to make ourselves look stronger or better. It implies a hierarchy, and it serves to keep power where it already lies. Almost everything we say or do consists of othering in some way, whether we may realize it or not. The most commonly used form of this is to other by ones gender. (female vs. male). Simone de Beauvoir wrote a wonderful piece called The Second Sex and in it she states that “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” . What an orthodox one would imagine this to be. However, this quote alone summarizes human nature. Everything, how one must dress, walk, talk, and even breathe has been set to certain standards that are to be met regardless of what the individual may wish to be. Men have always had the upper hand in every subject. They have it all, it is always the woman competing against herself to please the desires of the men she is surrounded by. Everything comes down to what...
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...group of people based on their perceived differences from them. The singled out group or person (the “others”) could be different because of their sex, skin color, religion or anything else that is different from the people who are doing the “othering.” However, being different doesn’t necessarily mean you are being othered. Othering occurs when you are teased, belittled, or otherwise rejected from general society because of your differences. Part C - Analysis of “The White House” by Claude McKay Claude McKay’s “The White House” introduces us to how the author experienced othering based on his skin color. He clearly states in lines 13 and 14, “Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate against the potent poison of your hate” (McKay, n.d., line 13 and 14) how he feels the hate coming from the people around him. One could determine from this that he feels as if the world is against him. McKay shows that he will preserve against the othering that he feels by stating “But I possess the courage and the grace to bear my anger proudly and unbent.” (McKay, n.d., line 3 and 4.) This, despite, clearly feeling like an outsider after having described a door shutting in his face (McKay, n.d., Line 1). The group of people responsible for the othering in this work are the white people, who believed that African Americans should be treated differently because of their skin color. An example of this though can be found in line 7 of the poem where McKay states he is “A chafing savage, down...
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...history background, their environmental and physical differences, their religious tolerance, as well as their current political and economical status. The characteristic of this region can be described as: diversity (K Danielson, 2009). In my research paper, I will draw Indonesia as a representation of the whole Southeast Asia region. The reason for doing so is due to Indonesia’s diverse characteristic, which I believe is very representative of the region as a whole. By analyzing President Barack Obama’s speech: “Indonesia’s Example to the World”, I will discuss how Obama portrays Indonesia as a Southeast Asia country in five areas: environment, people, economic, politics, and religion. Further, I will bring up the ideas of Orientalism and Othering and discuss whether Obama’s speech reveals these two concepts and how these concepts helped illustrate Indonesia as well as the Southeast Asia region. Indonesia in Obama’s Speech In the first place, with regards to the environmental issue, Obama mentioned about the “tsunami and the volcanic eruptions” (B Obama, 2010). Truly, these are the life threatening environmental problems in not only Indonesia, but also the whole Southeast Asia area. I will cite the most recent event, Typhoon Haiyan in Philippine, as an example (The Guardian, 2013). The frequently bring up of these environmental problems, both in Obama’s speech and 1 mxu033@u.washington.edu Minyue Xu 1364917 other media sources, illustrates the Southeast Asia as...
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...Structures within public spaces are a direct control upon accessibility and free movement (Butler, 1999). Therefore if the structures of such an environment inhibit the accessibility and movement of physically impaired individuals while enabling that of able-bodied people, this environment works to segregate these two groups and reinforce othering of the inhibited individuals (Butler, 1999). Well known examples of such inhibitions include ramp access for wheelchairs and Braille information for the blind (Butler, 1999). Imrie (2001) refers to this as a type of architectural apartheid, a subtle yet effective method of creating boundaries which other the disabled. These physical structures which disable impaired individuals from accessing certain areas like an underground train station act to create physical boundaries, one which able bodied individuals can easily navigate, but physically impaired people cannot (Imrie, 2001). A physical boundary such as this, acts to embody the social boundaries set by cultural values and discourses in relation to impairments (Dear et al., 1997). Subsequently...
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...GEOG 102 – TUTORIAL 1 By "othering", we mean any activity by which an individual or gathering gets to be rationally grouped in somebody’s mind as "not one of us" which practices inclusion and exclusion this is shown In age when the attention is on the twin extremes of the age range such as younger and older and unintentionally normalizes those in the middle years. This is also shown in disability also known as othering people with disabilities which involves both components of attraction and repulsion where there is positive which represents disabled heroes and negative which represents impairments that are seen unusual, and unappealing human beings. And last but not least in sexuality where there is heterosexing of work and different spaces...
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...As a student of color, I understand the difficulty of trying to maneuver through a white space, such as the education system. My objective is to use anthropology as a tool to better understand this “othering.” So far, what I have noticed from researching my topic is how few articles have been written about higher education. There is even fewer that discuss higher education and race, which does not surprise me. What I have gathered so far about sociocultural anthropology is that there is a lack of conversations about race and racism. I find this problematic because by putting conversations about race on the backburner ultimately leads to the silencing of those who are affected by...
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...could argue that the othering of the witches is comparable to the othering of the Spiritual Franciscans. The witches and heretics were linked by their persecution and process of othering by the Roman Church. Both the witches and the Spiritual Franciscans were once tolerated by the Roman Church and it was only when it was acceptable to the church did they fall out of favor and safety. In fact, both groups were seen as useful at one time, that is until they took their beliefs too far. The Spiritual Franciscans challenged the Roman Church and the result was their fall from the church and the label of heretic. The difference between the two groups is that when the Roman Church felt that the heretics were under control, they turned to the witches to persecute as they needed a new target. Therefore, I feel that it is safe to say that both groups underwent a similar process of othering from the Roman Church. In conclusion, the transformation of the Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy of the Roman Church led to the condemnation of the “others.” The “others” include the intellectuals, Jews, lepers, prostitutes, homosexuals, and witches later on. The basic idea is that all of these groups went against the church teachings in some ways. This includes the promiscuous nature of the prostitutes, homosexuals, and witches (given most witches were women and are described as tempting and are accused of having relations with Satan). In the end, they all faced the process of othering by the Roman Church,...
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...Sune Qvotrup Jensen in his paper, ‘Othering, Identity Formation and Agency’ defines this “othering” as the process “by which powerful groups, who may or may not make up a numerical majority, define subordinate groups into existence in a reductionist way which ascribe problematic and/or inferior characteristics to these subordinate groups. Such discursive processes affirm the legitimacy and superiority of the powerful and condition identity formation among the subordinate.” This othering is justified when the Self claims to have suffered at the hands of the other. The analogy of “Christ Killers” and their growing population at a faster rate than the Bosnian Serbs was enough to antagonize the Muslims. Before the genocide in Srebrenica was quoted as saying, “Here we are in Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. On the eve of yet another great Serbian holiday, we present this city to the Serbian people as a gift. Finally, after the rebellion against the Dahije [local Turk janissary leaders], the time has come to...
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...Knowledge Lenses Spike Lee’s Bamboozled (a feature film 2000) exemplifies, revives and attempts reappropriate stereotypical roles. He uses imagery, and originally orchestrated “othering” to morally and politically justify slavery. These stereotypes were in direct conflict with the principle “spirit” of freedom, the foundation of the United States of America. The characters “Sambo” and “Tom” are happy, and content being slaves according to their portrayal in Minstrel shows during the 1840s and the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Lee’s use of satire enables the exploration of the history surrounding these stereotypes and their residual effects on Black Culture today, by reviving these stereotypes through the creation of a fictitious TV show. Spike...
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...HOW MIGHT THE LABELLING OF ACTIVITIES AS ‘DEVIANT’ SERVE AS A FORM OF SOCIAL CONTROL? Deviancy is considered any behaviour to violate cultural norms and it is essentially split between two formations; formal deviancy (crime) and informal deviancy (social). Social control is a product of social learning via labeling strategies, it is composed of both informal and formal mechanisms and maintains that the exploitation of socialization and social learning contributes to the individual building of self-control, and in the reduction divergent behaviour. Both controls enforce labeling as a sanction to shame the supposedly deviant character; it infers that the individual has earned disapproval from society due to failed expectations of behaviour. Labeling theorists propose that criminality comes from the response to behaviour as an alternative to actual violation of the law (Wellford, 1975), this is evident in society’s acceptance of illegal downloading despite the sanctions and group in powers values. Durkheim views this defiance as a necessity to an ever changing society where deviance is of use to maintaining functionality, social constancy and collective consciousness, when this is absent anomie is said to arise. Labelling theory holds much of the same stance as conflict theory in emphasising the power of social groups and social control in expectations and stigmatisation. Where the delegation of labels creates sub-groups within society each group is anticipated to fulfil certain...
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...Write an essay which applies the theories of Post-colonialism and Globalisation within an analysis of the set text The Harvest The play The Harvest by Manjula Padmanabhan was written in 2003 and can be seen to be dealing with many issues facing the un-developed world such as poverty and disease. One of the most prominent features of the play are its strong links to post-colonialism and globalisation. In her article, Manjula Padmanabhan’s Harvest: Global technoscapes and the international trade in human body organs, Gilbert exclaims that the play focuses on “the global spread of late capitalist technology [and it’s] significant risks…Manjula Padmanabhan’s Harvest, locates these risks as intensely intimate and yet thoroughly social through a chilling drama about transnational flows in two distinct but related areas; biomedical technology and digital technology including virtual reality.” (Gilbert 2006). The play follows a young man, Om who signs up to the organ selling company Interplanta in order to earn money for his poverty stricken family, only to discover that his and his families lives would change forever, being ruled and watched over by who is thought to be an all American blonde called Ginni. The play follows Om and his family and their struggle to keep their identity and sanity through the hands of the Western Interplanta and the Western society who made them. There is much evidence of post-colonialism and globalisation in Padmanabhan’s Harvest, such as dehumanisation...
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...MECN1001: Critical Thinking Component Science Fiction Course reader Semester 2, 2015 “If science fiction is the mythology of modern technology, then its myth is tragic.” – Ursula Le Guin Lecturer and course co-ordinator: Ms Linda Mabin Linda.Mabin@wits.ac.za CM, 3rd Floor, East Wing, ADU (011) 717-7064 MECN1001: Critical Thinking Course Outline Science Fiction is a genre that is growing in currency around the world as a literature of cognitive estrangement, and one that has immense universal value because of this. To distance oneself from the ascendant structures of power is to perceive the world anew, filled with potential for change. For this reason, Science Fiction is a literature of immense value for a country such as South Africa. Approaching the challenges of a nation such as this requires an imagination trained to be meticulous in its logic, but unrestrained by the restrictions of present reality. Each tutorial activity is crafted to correlate with the concerns of the lecture material. Tutorials transpose the fundamental concerns dealt with in the subject matter of the lectures and ‘activate’ these ideas by having students demonstrate their knowledge not just in the form of individual written exercises, but through the vitally necessary process of engaging their tutors and peers in structured discussion. It is thus clear that the success of a tutorial is dependent on student participation, and as clear that the success of a tutorial depends on students being intrigued...
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...Assignment 6 Final Draft Following the horrific events of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the United States has been unable to completely restore our trust in Middle Eastern nations and people for fear that they will plan another terrorist attack against us. In a post-9/11 world where Americans have become accustomed to associating Middle Easterners with terrorists, season 2 episode 1 of the television series 24 conveys this concept of otherness and the othering of Middle Easterners through its manipulation of time to show the dehumanization of Arabs as a threat to society and to stress the immediacy with which Americans must act against to such dangers. In this scene, 24 employs film analysis elements including windowing and time stamps to manipulate time in a way that emphasizes the immediacy of these actions and alters time as if it were real-time in order to show how Middle Easterners are often “othered” in a post-9/11 world. After the President of the United States has learned of the impending terrorist attack that is to occur in Los Angeles later that day, he says to a colleague that “there is a terrorist with his finger on a trigger, and [they’ve] got to get him.” While he is giving this statement, the episode employs a windowing effect in which the president is speaking in the top half of the screen and a Middle Eastern man, named Reza Naiyeer, is presented on the bottom half while he is driving in a convertible and speaking Arabic on the phone. The use...
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...The offensive use of the word “boat people” is used within Australian society, taken from the Australian Government as an instrument to “other” individuals trying to enter Australia to seek asylum. To help comprehend the complex phenomenon of “others”, it is comparable to stereotyping, used to uphold social order. Richard Dyer (Hall, Evans & Nixon 2013) debates that “we represent people and places that are different from us with a representational practice, which we call stereotyping, which involves feelings, attitudes and emotions, and it also provokes fears and anxieties”. This ‘othering’ is a preface for the Australian Government to disregard their human rights responsibility, proclaiming that it is good for Australia. “Stop the boats” is the slogan and catchphrase the Australian Government and Australian society use when discussion of and around asylum seekers issues. This has triggered asylum seekers to be seen as a political concern instead of a humanitarian issue. Asylum seekers are used for political advance, playing on racial stereotypes or ‘others’ to strike fear within the Australian society. As the political concerns rage on, the public restrain understanding and compassion for asylum seekers. With...
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...boundary maintenance of the group are provided (Barth, 1969, p. 13; Bell, 2003, p. 70). The process of privileging certain memories are invariably coupled with forgetting, and could be become subject to manipulation as well as reconstruction to adapt to changing needs (Schwartz, 1982, p. 376; Smith, 1996, p. 382). Therefore, it is important to uncover and analyse factors that lead to these changes in order to appreciate the relationship between ethno-national identity and memory. In this essay, it will be argued that memory is discursive and constructivist in nature, contingent on ever-changing relations of power which exist in and around the state. Firstly, the case study of China’s shift away from communist class antagonism towards an ‘othering’ of the West and Japan will be argued to be an instrumental use of memory to maintain legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in response to growing western pressure and internal discontent. It will also be argued that a diffusion of discursive power from the centrality of the state has led to dilemmas in China’s ambitions of a ‘peaceful rise’. Next, the role of memory, among other factors, will be discussed with regards to shifting nationalist discourse in Taiwan from Chinese-centric ethnic-nationalism of the Kuomingtang (KMT) to an civil indigenous nationalism will be presented to show how memory is constructivist in nature, subservient to underlying power relations and individual agency. Due to constraints, this essay will mostly...
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