Reading discussion day #5
Our fourth Reading Discussion Day will focus on interrogating the concept or notion of “The Other” or “Otherness.” Otherness is defined by difference, typically difference marked by outward signs like race, class, and gender. As such, otherness has also been associated predominantly with marginalized people, those who by virtue of their difference from the dominant group, have been disempowered, robbed of a voice in the social, religious, and political world. The concept of The Other highlights how many societies create a sense of belonging, identity and social status by establishing and/or drawing upon The Other – that is, constructing social categories as binary opposites. In the early 1950s, Simone de Beauvoir argued that
Otherness is a fundamental category of human thought. Thus it is that no group ever sets itself up as
the One without at once setting up the Other over against itself.
These dichotomies are set up as being natural and so often times in everyday life they are taken for granted and presumed to be natural. But social identities are not natural – they represent an established social order – a hierarchy where certain groups are established as being superior to other groups. Individuals may believe that they have the choice (or agency) to create their identities according to their own beliefs about the world. Yet the negotiation of identity equally depends upon the negotiation of power relationships that can change but are for the most part, pre-established in society.
Your talking point for our next discussion should focus on one of the following key questions/concerns:
1) The notion of “The Other” or otherness as it relates to James Baldwin and the Black Freedom Movement/Civil Rights Movement.
2) Is the concept of “The Other” a useful framework for understanding Baldwin’s sense of homelessness in America and how other minority or marginalized individuals (women, members of the LGBTQ community, Muslim-Americans, etc…) may feel in America post-WWII and perhaps today?
3) Is "Othering" inevitable? Is there a way to overcome “othering?” Can the “Other” speak/write for his/herself?
Assigned Texts:
Your talking point can include textual evidence from any of the readings from Unit 6. The key text for this Reading Discussion Day is entitled “Acknowledging Otherness” by Luciana Colapinto. This essay was featured in Columbia University’s Morningside Review, an online journal published by Undergraduate Writing Program at Columbia University. The Morningside Review features exemplary essays written by first-year undergraduates in the Core Curriculum course, University Writing. The author of this essay, therefore, is two years older than you. Not only will this essay hopefully enrich and/or complicate your understanding of the concept of Otherness, but will also give you a sense of college-level writing. Here is the link to access the article:
http://morningsidereview.org/essay/acknowledging-otherness-2/#
**I also recommend that you listen to actor Thandie Newtown’s Ted Talk entitled “Embracing Otherness” posted on my website (see Course Materials Tab – Unit 6).
Otherness is a fundamental category of human thought. Thus it is that no group ever sets itself up as
the One without at once setting up the Other over against itself.
These dichotomies are set up as being natural and so often times in everyday life they are taken for granted and presumed to be natural. But social identities are not natural – they represent an established social order – a hierarchy where certain groups are established as being superior to other groups. Individuals may believe that they have the choice (or agency) to create their identities according to their own beliefs about the world. Yet the negotiation of identity equally depends upon the negotiation of power relationships that can change but are for the most part, pre-established in society.
Your talking point for our next discussion should focus on one of the following key questions/concerns:
1) The notion of “The Other” or otherness as it relates to James Baldwin and the Black Freedom Movement/Civil Rights Movement.
2) Is the concept of “The Other” a useful framework for understanding Baldwin’s sense of homelessness in America and how other minority or marginalized individuals (women, members of the LGBTQ community, Muslim-Americans, etc…) may feel in America post-WWII and perhaps today?
3) Is "Othering" inevitable? Is there a way to overcome “othering?” Can the “Other” speak/write for his/herself?
Assigned Texts:
Your talking point can include textual evidence from any of the readings from Unit 6. The key text for this Reading Discussion Day is entitled “Acknowledging Otherness” by Luciana Colapinto. This essay was featured in Columbia University’s Morningside Review, an online journal published by Undergraduate Writing Program at Columbia University. The Morningside Review features exemplary essays written by first-year undergraduates in the Core Curriculum course, University Writing. The author of this essay, therefore, is two years older than you. Not only will this essay hopefully enrich and/or complicate your understanding of the concept of Otherness, but will also give you a sense of college-level writing. Here is the link to access the article:
http://morningsidereview.org/essay/acknowledging-otherness-2/#
**I also recommend that you listen to actor Thandie Newtown’s Ted Talk entitled “Embracing Otherness” posted on my website (see Course Materials Tab – Unit 6).