Otherness/Othering

Othering can be understood as the multidimensional process of constructing and (re)producing the Other as inferior from a hegemonic position that determines which are the epistemologies, norms, values, institutions, culture, language, social configurations, economic systems that are considered appropriate. The hegemonic gaze that characterizes Othering is grounded in asymmetrical statuses of power which, by representing certain individuals or groups as lacking the qualities, skills, characteristics, knowledges determined by a majority group, proceeds in constructing them as inferior and subordinate, thus justifying their stigmatization, discrimination, and oppression. Not being entitled to possess the same rights and to vindicate for themselves the same dignity and respect of the normative social group, the Others are dehumanized and can thus become targets of acts of persecution and violence. Othering thus operates according to interlocked systems of discrimination and oppression where differences of gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, body features and shapes, sexual orientation, religion, abilities are intersectional factors that measure the distance from the hegemonic system of reference—which, in turn, gets more strengthened and legitimized. Othering considers certain individual or groups as the representatives of a homogeneous minority or fringe group with no in-group differences. Othering conceives the Other’s Otherness as a static and homogenous state: it ‘naturalizes’ Otherness as a de facto and singular condition. To sum up, the characteristics that define Othering are: a) the construction of the Other from a position of power: who has the power to define the Other as such, from which position, for which purposes; b) the construction of the Other as inferior from a hegemonic position that defines what counts as values, epistemologies, culture, language, etc.; c) the construction of the Other as a homogenous Other with no in-group differences. Therefore, Othering operates according to different and intersectional processes where the construction of the Other defines and is functional to the difference/distance from the Self as a lack, deficiency, and inadequacy. In the last decades, the structural phenomenon of migration from countries affected by war, poverty, and climate changes has increased the discourse on Othering in both public and political discourse. Propagated by traditional and the new media, such a discourse has contributed to spread prejudices against certain individuals or minority groups, often resulting in hate speech acts if not in direct actions of persecution or violence. In the same years, several terms derived from the word ‘Other’ have appeared in different studies and research. As nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs, these terms refer to the discursive processes that construct and stigmatize difference on the grounds of hierarchical status of power in order to legitimize multidimensional exclusionary practices: other, used as a noun, pronoun, adjective, and verb; otherness, difference constructed as discrimination; the othered/the otherized, individual who is subject of discrimination; the otherizing/the otherized, those who other/otherize and those who are othered/otherized; to other/to otherize, the action of otherizing; otherization, the result of otherizing; otherism, Otherness as a multidimensional phenomenon and property such as, e.g., racism. A brief note to conclude this introduction. To comply with the dictionary layout and, at the same time, to offer some insights of the multifarious and cross-disciplinary applications of the constructs of Othering, this entry has necessarily implied a rigorous selection of references and fields of application, while striving to replicate in its own structure the cross-disciplinary quality that characterizes this notion. Finally, as a factual counter-response to the discriminatory essence of Othering, when possible the entry has priviledged to mention the studies of less-known authors, or of authors coming from the Global South.