Interrogating otherness with reference to selected Australian and Caribbean texts.

Abstract

While it is commonly expected within the society today that every person should have the right to assert his or her difference by choice, there are numerous examples that display otherwise – where one may be defined by their differences indiscriminately. For an individual to be different in any way, be it cultural or otherwise, should not indicate that he or she is inferior. This undersirable manner of perceiving an individual is most noticibly evident in how one may unconsciously (or consciously) ‘Other’ an individual. This essay examines the constitution of the non-hegemonic Other, interrogating the different facets of this concept as well as that of the colonial discourse on Othering. It will also attempt to map the journey through which one may resist and challenge the undesirable effects of Othering – drawing its textual references mainly from Australian and Caribbean literature, namely Doris Pilkington’s novella Rabbit Proof Fence, Sally Morgan’s autobiography My Place and Olive Senior’s short story Arrival of the Snakewoman.