More on Othering
+ some resources for you to explore
I write using personal narrative and observations as well as research. It is my chosen method for how I show you the pattern I’m seeing. I write using research not to be your guru or your go-to expert.
I want to make information accessible to you. I want you to have the same resources I have so you can make your own decisions. And I think I’m not bad in summarizing information so the power of knowledge is more widely available.
To that end, I wanted to send you more resources on othering and list other educators, thinkers, and researchers whose work has influenced my own. And if you want to do your own research, by all means use what I’ve listed here.
In my last post, I had some material you could check out in the footnotes. Those were G.W.F. Hegel’s book Phenomenology of Spirit and Abigail Thorn’s YouTube video explaining Hegel’s Master-Slave Dialectic on her channel, Philosophy Tube. Both are available for free online.
To be clear about source information, Hegel’s book is a primary source. Phenomenology of Spirit was Hegel’s way of communicating his own perspective to readers and learners. Thorn’s YouTube video explaining the Master-Slave Dialectic is a secondary source where Thorn tries to distill information gathered from Hegel, Jeal-Paul Satre, and others.
Credibility of source is another thing. Hegel was a well-renown German philosopher who died ages ago. Phenomenology of Spirit was published in 1807. His works has a well of philosophical wisdom we can tap into, but it also has limits. As I mentioned in the last post, Hegel was also a racist, believing other races to be inferior to his own.
Abigail Thorn is a playwright, actress, and YouTuber (content creator) who was studied philosophy and theology in university. She created the channel Philosophy Tube to help make the study of philosophy available to others! And she creates secondary source information in helpful, entertaining ways.
We can learn from Hegel, but abstain from hierarchal race structures. We can learn from Philosophy Tube even though it may seem like a silly YouTube video. Just remember: All work, research, and ideas have limits.
You can read the information, thoughts, and opinions of other writers here on Substack and know that they, too, may have something wise to offer, but no single person is the guru or expert who is going to be able to answer all of life’s questions. As a fellow human being who matters, I can set the table and offer you my perspective. But I certainly won’t try to shove it down your throat and force you to make a decision.
I also recently posted on fundamentalism via Instagram. And I thought to share some fundamentalism research with you.
Fundamentalism is (I believe) a huge part of the othering, abuse, and marginalization we experience in the church. Contrary to popular thoughts, fundamentalism isn’t a specific set of conservation Christian beliefs. It is a concept that can be applied generally.
In the Instagram post, I reference the work of religion sociologist Martin Riesebrodt. I appreciated Riesebrodt’s 2000 article “Fundamentalism and the Resurgence of Religion”, because of how he explains the concept. He mention that fundamentalism is used to protect. It is defensive. When the thing valued is challenged because of social change, fundamentalism helps hold the line. It is known not for its inclusivity, but for its rejection.
Riesebrodt also alludes to changes in fundamentalism over time—how fundamentalism gets a makeover with every generation.
Along with othering and the Master-Slave Dialectic, I mentioned fundamentalism in my Substack post “A Culture of Othering” because rigid fundamentals are at the foundations of othering, abuse, dehumanization, and marginalizing in the church. A person’s fundamentals helps them justify othering and committing other moral injuries.
Many sense the shift in the Western church. You can actually see the shift simply by paying attention to the sorts of books Christian publishers are churning out. If Riesebrodt is right, if fundamentalism gets a new face with a new generation, it is paramount that we learn the concept of fundamentalism so we can build something that doesn’t other or clobber people. My hope is that the new shifts in culture do not perpetuate the acts of othering.
If you’re interested in more, most of this will be fleshed out in Othered. 😊
I have clickable links throughout, but let me bullet list them here for you:
Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit; this book is really heady and tough to chew on. I suggest starting with Thorn’s video. ⬇️
Abigail Thorn’s “Intro to Hegel (& Progressive Politics)” on YouTube.
Martin Riesebrodt’s “Fundamentalism and the Resurgence of Religion”; this article is on JSTOR. You can create a free JSTOR account and have free access to a certain number of articles a year.
Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex; she writes on the Other, too.
The Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy listing for Jean-Paul Satre; a great secondary source that lists Satre’s primary sources.
Satre’s play, No Exit (In French, Huis Clos). In No Exit, Satre explores self-identity through creative expression. It is also the origin of one of his famous quotes: “Hell is—other people!”
Audre Lorde’s book Your Silence Will Not Protect You does not speak to the theory of being other, but her works is born from a life of being othered. It’s brilliant.
W. Kay Wilson’s TEDTalk, “The Danger of Othering in the Quest to Belong”
Henri Tafjel’s “Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations”; This speaks to ingrouping and outgrouping, but you can sense the theory of othering when you read his thoughts on superiority and ethnocentrism.
Philosopher and professor Lajos Brons’ article “Othering, An Analysis”; Brons speaks to crude othering, sophisticated othering, and inductive fallacies. And he references a lot of the above I’ve already mentioned here.
Book Update
I shared updates in my last free post, but I wanted to update paid subscribers:
My final manuscript has been officially submitted! 🎇
This means the book (more-or-less) includes all the words I want to say. It is in the hands of my copyeditor at Baker Books who will begin formatting it for proofs.
I celebrated by purchasing myself a large sugar-free Cocomo from Dutch Bros.
But Wait! There’s More!
The idea for a second book came to me while Tyler (husband) and I were watching Oppenheimer last weekend.
I knew I wanted a follow-up book to Othered. My writing problem has never been struggling to meet the word count, but in trying to stay under the word count. Othered clocks in at about 59,300 words. My limit was 60,000 words. In turning in the manuscript, I was worried I didn’t get to say everything I hoped to say.
But now, I’ve got a new solid idea that should make for a great follow-up and continuation of the conversation.
I’ve already clued my agent in, and started working on the proposal. Despite book-writing feeling like a marathon within a marathon, I’m already excited about researching book #2.
“Rigid Fundamentalism” is the life we were exposed to and one of the most difficult ideals I have had to recover from.