"ANOTHERNESS" versus OTHERNESS

 “Anotherness” is an alternative to the more common notion of Otherness. It has been developed out of the thought of Mikhail Bakhtin, and applied to ecocriticism by Patrick D. Murphy. The basic point is that there is a third option, in addition to the extremes of (1) absorbing “them” so that their distinctness is not recognized and (2) the irreconcilable alienation and opposition between us and them found in Otherness

1. Subject. While an Other is mere object, Another retains the status as a subject with its own integrity and with which we interrelate as part of a community in some sense.

• Social : Signs in Civil Rights Movement: “I Am a Man. ”
• Ecological : Nature as “kin” in indigenous societies. Animistic views with nature seen as having its own life. Animals as “subjects of a life” (environmental philosophy).

2. Similarity & continuity. There is no absolute difference as in Otherness. Another is in some way like us even while it is different. There is no absolute separation or essential alienation but rather some kind continuity with Another.

• Social: Strong sense of shared humanity. The racial or gender boundary is permeable.
• Ecological: Animals have certain types of intelligence and emotion. Chinese view that all of nature is made of qi (“chi”). ‘No ontological divide” between humans and nonhuman nature (deep ecology). Humans are not essentially alienated from nature.

3. Distinctness. While there is similarity and continuity, Another retains its own distinctness. It is not reducible to or absorbable in us, as in some cases of Otherness.

• Social: The distinctiveness of the experience of other social groups (e.g., women, minorities, non-Western people) is recognized and valued. A recognition that literature of white males
• Ecological: Anthropomorphism of nature is rejected, or at least qualified. Nature is not just a cultural construct, but has a quality of life distinct from human life.

4. Complexity. Another is recognized as having internal differences and complexity, rather than being all the same.

• Social : The social group is recognized as including all different kinds of people.
• Ecological : Each ecosystem (e.g., each wetland) is unique. Nature has more complexity than our minds can grasp.

5. Changeableness. Another has complexity and difference over time – it is capable of change – rather than seen as simple over time and thus unchanging.

• Social: Social groups, including “primitives,” undergo change.
• Ecological : Ecosystems and species change, even ecosystems at “climax.”

6. Agency. Another has its own agency. It isn’t passive in the face of our actions, and it isn’t (at least completely) dependent on us for action.

• Social : Members of every social group are capable of their own agency and are not helpless or passive.
• Ecological : Nature can teach us and can change us, and can (to a degree) heal itself.

 7. Visibility. The existence of Another is recognized and recognizable, rather than invisible.

• Social : The social group is visible in media, among political representatives, etc.
• Ecological : We no longer see nature as in a roadmap but as in a topographic map with details of vegetation and water flow. Nature is not simply a background.

8. Voice. Another has its own voice, which is given an opportunity to be heard. If it does not have a human voice (in the case of nonhuman nature), somehow its voice is given representation.

• Social : The social group is given a voice in politics, in the arts, in academia, etc.
• Ecological : Somehow we “hear” the voice of animals, plants, and ecosystems. Environmental groups can speak for nature. Shamans can give voice to nature.

9. Concrete and specific. Another is no abstraction but rather a concrete reality.

• Social : We see each person as a unique individual, rather than as a stereotype or simply as a member of a group.
• Ecological : Each animal, plant, and ecosystem is recognized as unique. “Nature” is not a general abstraction (“Nature doesn’t care if we dam the river”) but is an actual field of individual beings.

10. Value . Another has intrinsic value rather than mere instrumental value. There may, however, be some sense of hierarchy of value.

• Social : Every social group and member of the group has intrinsic value.
• Ecological : Nature has intrinsic value.

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