Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

From time immemorial, peoples have considered themselves as “the people” and all the rest as “others.” Familiar examples are the Greeks and the barbaroi, the Jews and the goyim, the Japanese and the gajjtn, and China as the Middle Kingdom. Throughout, designating others and emphasizing their “otherness” have been fundamental to the construction of boundaries of identity and community, between and within societies. Over time, otherness has had many different meanings, as many as identity. It has referred to cultural differences along the lines of language, religion, civilization, “race,” ethnicity, region, nationality, gender, age, and to class, development, ideology, and so forth.“Europe and its others” is a sprawling theme that involves a variety of historically changing boundaries that share an element of “difference.” “Europe” can be taken in two ways: within Europe, that is, within what is now considered Europe, and in relation to Europe, that is, problematizing the identity of Europe. Both are considered here. While “Europe” is an old concept it did not gain currency until the seventeenth century and, by and large, only became an active boundary as such in the course of the nineteenth century and particularly from the beginning of the twentieth century. This treatment opens with a discussion of the different meanings of otherness in relation to Europe over time, including the ... log in or subscribe to read full text