DIFFERENCE AND OTHERNESS

Those who — in a multitude of layers and dimensions — differ from a group that form the hegemony in any given state or system, are usually pushed aside under the circumstances that they are still situated within the margins, only to be at the very edges. Not exactly integrated into the very cores of the society, yet not fully excluded either, so the Other’s individuality can always be policed from all directions.

Differences matter. Yet, in the hands of those who have the means to alter the views of the many — not for the sake of peaceful coexistence but for the conservation of skewed power relations — the discursive formations around the topics of representation and difference become dangerous tools that serve to divide and conquer.