...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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...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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...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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...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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...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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...Post colonialism highlights the issues that hold various Western countries together in a grasp in order to define their weaker counterparts. Post colonialism is the study of exclusion, denigration ‘othering’ and resistance which takes place under systems of colonial control where countries struggle to deal with colonial legacy. When one looks at the text Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M Coetzee, the ideology of Orientalism and Mimicry unfolds and speaks of the unspeakable encounters of the Empire as opposed to the Barbarians thus, creating the distinctions between the empire and the colony. Therefore, it is the purpose of this essay to justify how the foretold philosophers theory, excavate understanding of Morrison and Coetzee’s text. Orientalism as according to Edward Said “Orientalism is the product of circumstances that are fundamentally, indeed, radically fractious.” To simply state, orientalism is the result of circumstances that revolves around misunderstanding of another inferior race that however results in anger and prejudices. This is evident when we look closely at Coetzee’s novel where there is an unnamed Magistrate who serves as the radical self and the other. As the novel progresses, the natives do not fit into the label ‘Barbarians’ despite the fact they live on the boundary, uncivilized in the face of the Empire, barbaric and inferior. These barbarians are then blamed for things that they do not even commit and are tortured on the terms of the command of the...
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...with little attempt at creating authentic, three-dimensional characters and the humor surrounding Asians are written in poor taste. In this essay I argue that through the depiction of North Korean civilians, Sook, and Kim Jung Un, the film promotes fear of North Korean culture, “othering” of Asians, and strengthens prominent stereotypes of hyper sexualized Asian women and emasculated Asian men. In the opening scene, a Korean girl dressed in traditional Korean clothing is seen singing a song about wanting the United States to “explode in a ball of fiery hell”. Though North Korea is known for songs promoting their support of Kim Jung Un and hatred of Western capitalism, this opening scene seems to project xenophobic fears of American audiences rather than add to the plot. Attempting to find humor in songs about rape and killing almost comes across as a political message about North Korea rather than a comedic portrayal of the nation’s propaganda. The lyrics dismiss any common humanity of the North Korean civilians and the masses gathering around in support make it seem as though the topics being discussed are condoned or at least widely accepted. Throughout the film the common theme of “othering” Asians from Americans and portraying North Koreans as unobtainable, foreign and distant to American viewers is carried without the afterthought of what it might mean for representations of Asians in general. Though one can argue that at the end when Asian Americans arrive as Seal...
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