2/25/10: Idea #5- Othering

Various Definitions:

• Othering is a way of defining and securing one’s own positive identity through the stigmatization of an "other."  Whatever the markers of social differentiation that shape the meaning of "us" and "them," whether they are racial, geographic, ethnic, economic or ideological, there is always the danger that they will become the basis for a self-affirmation that depends upon the denigration of the other group.  

• Simplistic recognition of normal human diversity, combined with ethnocentric thinking can lead to a tendency to depict ‘others’ [women, natives, gorillas...] as somehow, categorically, topologically, intrinsically, DIFFERENT.

• This practice of comparing ourselves to others and AT THE SAME TIME DISTANCING ourselves from them is called ‘OTHERING’, by which we mean positing that humans and societies whose life and historical experiences vary from your own are ‘different’ [which is true] and not understandable [which is not true]; use of the distance and difference to re-confirm one’s own ‘normalcy’

Othering is a way a group excludes or marginalizes another group. The emphasis is put on what makes that person different or "opposite" and feeds into stereotypical characterization. White people have made black people cultural others, ie: black face comedy, Aunt Jemima and Sambo. This concept is not just relating to black/white binary thinking. Any group can be othered. I talked with Tom about this idea. A white person can be othered if they are in a predominately black neighborhood. The idea of the other or minority varies from situation to situation. "But there is no place for the 'other' in human rights because to argue that some people are more 'deserving' than others of having their rights protected is to argue that some beings are less than human." This may be true when relating to what is wrong and right morally but is a reality in our society. Gays are seen as less than human and prohibited the right to marriage.

I am interested in this concept of the "other", and want it to have an affect on my work. What happens when the other, other's for lack of better words? I am particularly interested in hearing how people have been discriminated against that are different from me. Some of my peers have suggested that white people don't get discriminated against but I know they do. You can be discriminated against for the color of your hair, let alone the color of your skin.



http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/rww03/othering.htm
http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2010/02/othering.html