Lecture: Exclusion and Othering

Question 1

At what scales can othering and exclusion take place?

Answer 1

Individual, regional, national, in groups. Who defines who is in and who is out?

Question 2

How can you find the self?

Answer 2

You need to find commonalities. Within communities there’re heterogeneities but they accept that to find each other.

Question 3

What is the difference between othering and exclusion?

Answer 3

For someone to be a stranger you need interaction. In order to be excluded you need to be othered before.

For exclusion you put a label on a person or group and dehumanise them. They become a category. You are at risk of making a generalisation. You are no longer doing justice to the differences in the group.

Question 4

What are the 3 steps of exclusion?

Answer 4

1. Objectifying: Turned into a category
2. Abjectifying: Seen as something that can’t be trusted
3. Framework of who can be included and who needs to be excluded

Question 5

What are spatially bound examples of exclusion?

Answer 5

• gypsy campsites
• jewish quarters (medieval) cities
• ghetto’s (originally jewish quarters)
• slums
• ethnic quarters
• penal colonies
• walls on borders

Question 6

What is the role of power in exclusion?

Answer 6

There’s a continuum of power in the group who dominates and counter-power in the group who is excluded. This can also lead to self-exclusion (e.g. self-sufficient community). This can also be out of self protection.