Encountering the 'Other'

    

THE STRANGE AND THE FAMILIAR

Encountering the ‘OTHER’

What is the ‘Other’? In its simplest sense, anyone or anything that is not ‘you’ is the‘other’. So the alienation begins. Since the other is alien, there is a separateness, and a rejection between the two. At the same time, the attempt is towards assimilation, you want to change the other to become more like you. You may do this by employing the processes of love and care, but also making clear that you are superior in your difference, the other must become more like you. If this does not happen through positive efforts, you reject and try to remove the other, for as long as there is the other, you have to be assertive as the better one. The rejection also may be a rejection of your own self if you recognize much of this in the other.

 

There are therefore many forms of ‘other’. In language and place, everything about the other attracts and repels, but its existence is evident, its pull even more so. That is why we travel, why we seek a certain novelty, why we embrace or get repelled by what we see, hear or fail to understand. We may often find ourselves more at home with the others. The concept of the other has entered the realms of philosophy, gender, race, fantasy and sci-fi, politics and power, among others.

Poet, short and story writer Abha Iyengar hosts 23 writers on encountering the 'other.''#15 of the Language Place Blog Carnival.   Check out the fascinating stories from diverse pens, including mine, at

Encounters of an everyday kind

 

Three cheers for the power of blogging for connecting so many views from around the world.