othering

English
WOTD – 4 August 2019

Etymology

other +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

Noun

othering (usually uncountable, plural otherings)

  1. (chiefly philosophy) The process of perceiving or portraying someone or something as essentially alien or different.
    Synonyms: alienation, discrimination, otherization
    • 1865, James Hutchison Stirling, quoting Rudolf Haym (translated), “The Commentators of Hegel: Schwegler, Rosencranz, Haym”, in The Secret of Hegel: Being the Hegelian System in Origin, Principle, Form, and Matter. [...] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, OCLC 18048713, page 465:
      [T]he For-self-ness of the one must therefore make the other something other than it is immediately set in the judgment: this self-preservation through subjection of the other under itself is therefore immediately an othering of this other; but the nature of Judgment must at the same time equally assert itself in this alteration and sublate at the same time this otherness.
    • 1870, Francis A. Henry, “The Finite and the Infinite. [Part II.]”, in William T[orrey] Harris, editor, The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, volume IV, number 4, St. Louis, Mo.: R. P. Studley & Co., printers, […], OCLC 1044760354, page 297:
      [T]he Ego discerns itself, distinguishes itself, others itself; this Otherness is, as contrasted with the first phase, its being Out-of-Itself, and, since the Othering is a making itself an object to itself, it is also its being For-Itself; […]
    • 1995, Lois Weis, “Identity Formation and the Process of ‘Othering’: Unraveling Sexual Threads”, in Educational Foundations: A Journal Focusing on Interdisciplinary Aspects of the Educational Foundations, volume 9, number 1, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Prakken Publications; San Francisco, Calif.: Caddo Gap Press, ISSN 1047-8248, OCLC 1010553345, page 18:
      "Othering" may be defined as that process which serves to mark and name those thought to be different from oneself. An example of this is recent scholarship on whiteness. As Ruth Frankenberg asserts, to focus on whiteness is to displace the white from the unmarked, unnamed status that is itself an effect of its dominance. […] The process of "othering" as an integral part of the identity formation of dominant whites is absolutely clear here.
    • 1998, Bill Ashcroft; Gareth Griffiths; Helen Tiffin, “OTHER”, in Key Concepts in Post-colonial Studies, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2002, →ISBN, page 171:
      The ambivalence of colonial discourse lies in the fact that both these processes of ‘othering’ occur at the same time, the colonial subject being both a ‘child’ of empire and a primitive and degraded subject of imperial discourse.
    • 2000, Lesley Head, “Hunter-gatherers, Land, and the Past”, in Second Nature: The History and Implications of Australia as Aboriginal Landscape (Space, Place, and Society), Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, →ISBN, page 15:
      Australians are conscious of multiple Otherings, both oppressive and affectionate. As white Australians locate Aboriginal people metaphorically "out there," so the rest of the world locates us all "down under."
    • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715–99, London: Allen Lane, →ISBN; republished London: Penguin Books, 2003, →ISBN, page 553:
      The process of political othering was not simply a rhetorical consequence of the Revolution's own unifying political culture.
    • 2002, Makau [W.] Mutua, “Terrorism and Human Rights: Power, Culture, and Subordination”, in Mary B. Bowman and Mark P. Popiel, editors, Buffalo Human Rights Law Review‎, volume 8, Buffalo, N.Y.: State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, ISSN 1098-3643, OCLC 1061168639, archived from the original on 6 March 2019, page 7:
      The civilizing mission, which is central to both international law and human rights, requires the definition of the native in particular language in which he is stripped of full humanity to justify the “othering” process, or the re-creation of the non-European in the image of the European.
    • 2018, Mikkel Thorup, “Democratic Hatreds: The Making of ‘the Hating Enemy’ in Liberal Democracy”, in Thomas Brudholm and Birgitte Schepelern Johansen, editors, Hate, Politics, Law: Critical Perspectives on Combating Hate, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 221–222:
      Democratic codes are the underlying discursive structure of democratic readings and evaluations of the world. A common distinction of codes is between the ethnos and the demos understanding of the democratic populace, that is, a prepolitical, possibly ethnic, and a political understanding of what constitutes "the people." It is often taken as given that the ethnos-version spells violence, racism, and differentiation, whereas the demos-version spells the possibiliy of peace and inclusion. I want to question that to explore how they both serve as resources for democratic otherings.
    • 2019 February 17, Kathrine Jebsen Moore, “A Witch-hunt on Instagram”, in Claire Lehmann, editor, Quillette‎, Sydney, N.S.W., archived from the original on 2 March 2019:
      “I want to say this gently,” a comment from a user identified only as Sarah began, “because I can tell your intent is to share your personal evolution and celebrate facing your fear of the unknown, and that’s great. I just need to point out that there’s a lot of ‘othering’ happening in this post.”

Translations

Verb

othering

  1. present participle of other

Further reading

Anagrams
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