In 1992 Samuel Huntington predicted the clashes civilizations the conflict between 'us' and 'them' the 'other'. The literary theorist Gayarti Spivak coined the term 'othering' to describe the way in which we try to establish our own positive identity in relation to an inferior other.The western way of thinking is based on dichotomies man/woman human/animal rational/emotional and us/others. Without 'otherness' there would be no other opinion, no dialogue and in psychoanalytical terms no self. We've had to define an other in order to develop the self for example in childhood to overcome Oedipus complex (the child's desire for the mother). The basic pattern differentiation between us and others takes a variety of forms. I think ethnic, black/white National, English/French ideological, liberal/conservative religious, Christian/Muslim sexual, man/woman. The dichotomies in themselves are not the problem, of course there are differences. The problem is that opinions about difference are usually inherently judgmental. for example the superiority of reason over emotion or civilization over wilderness.
We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.
Jane Austen
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