The image of the other: Friend, foreigner, patriot?

Abstract

The paper explores the imagery and constructions of alterity in the contemporary world. The image of the other is at the same time the image of ourselves, mostly through the metaphor of the “stranger.” This “stranger” represents the unknown, so he/she occasionally provokes fear and resentment, if only for appearing physically different in the “mainstream” culture. This paper traces the genesis and development of certain modernist ideals (including the need to postulate the existence of others as strange and potentially threatening). The apparent lack of comprehension for (cultural, ethnic, racial) others is just a symptom of the much deeper disorder - in the quest for rationality, the meaning of simple human communication seems to be forgotten. Just like in a hall of mirrors, the images that people encounter are basically the images of them­selves - only they have been distorted through nationalist or racist rhetoric. Using the examples from theory (anthropology, feminism, cultural studies) as well as from specific cultures (Brazil, South Africa, former Yugoslavia, France), and following on the works of scholars like Kristeva, Linke and Balibar, the author demonstrates the logic behind the need to exclude others, as well as the fact that all of these attempts will eventually back­fire. For we cannot exclude others if we do not at the same time exclude ourselves.

Keywords

• alterity
• anthropological aspects of the other
• anthropology and identity
• political anthropology