The phrase "writing the Other" has been bothering me. It makes me think, "So, POC are not like whites, then? They're not just humans with different coloured skin and different experiences but Something Else Entirely?"
The term 'Other' makes an irrevocable distinction between the speaker POV and the people they're speaking about. It encapsulates a 'them-vs-us' attitude that doesn't have any form of rectification. It isolates. It separates. It divides. It differentiates. And it does so in a brutal way that severs all hope of reconciliation or change.
An alternative term? My suggestion would be "Writing The Unfamiliar".
What is unfamiliar can become familiar if one has an open mind, a spirit of acceptance, and a willingness to self-examine. But the Other will never be Like Us because they are Other and we are Not Other. The language itself limits POC to the realm of Not Like Us (where 'Us' is the white presumptive default that reigns in our society).
Friday's thought.
The term 'Other' makes an irrevocable distinction between the speaker POV and the people they're speaking about. It encapsulates a 'them-vs-us' attitude that doesn't have any form of rectification. It isolates. It separates. It divides. It differentiates. And it does so in a brutal way that severs all hope of reconciliation or change.
An alternative term? My suggestion would be "Writing The Unfamiliar".
What is unfamiliar can become familiar if one has an open mind, a spirit of acceptance, and a willingness to self-examine. But the Other will never be Like Us because they are Other and we are Not Other. The language itself limits POC to the realm of Not Like Us (where 'Us' is the white presumptive default that reigns in our society).
Friday's thought.
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