A “Cultural Other” in Education:Unpacking Other-ness

Magdalena RostronPh.D. Candidate

Manchester Institute of Education, SEED, The University of Manchester

Rough outline• Translations and layers of meaning• Discourses and interpretations of the Other:

general historical background • Useful/usable references (e.g., Bauman; Said;

Holliday; Palfreyman; Buber; Gurevitch)• Who is my “cultural Other”?• Areas of tension (students vs. teacher,

students vs. students, “us” vs. “them”)• Areas of dialogue (curiosity, trust,

commonalities, relationship building)

L’Étranger in other languages

• L’Étranger = The Outsider, Alien, Stranger• Other – obcy, nieznany, tajemniczy,

niepojęty, niezbadany, niemiły, trudny, oporny, cudzy, nietutejszy, zagraniczny, nieznajomy, osadnik, traveller, gość, podróżny

• Literatura obca, obce języki, obce kraje • Alien => Other => Another

OTHERNESS HOSTILITY

STRANGENESS CURIOSITY

Discourses of otherness“Us” vs. “Them”

• Marxism => class struggle + economic conflict of interests

• Colonialism/imperialism => races + cultures• Gender => male domination vs. female

discrimination; different sexual orientations• Religion => inter-/intra-religious; secularism vs.

religion• Random “social” groupings => in-/out –groups• Personal => peer or family acceptance/rejection

Some interpretations of the Other

• Alienated working class – K. Marx, The Communist Manifesto (1848)

• Woman as the Other – S. de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949)

• Otherised culture – E. Said, Orientalism (1978)• English and other languages – e.g., A. Holliday;

D. Palfreyman; A. Pennycook; J. Edge; etc.• Overcoming otherness – M. Buber, Between

Man and Man (1947) + E. Levinas• Curiosity about the Other – Z. D. Gurevitch

What’s useful to me?

• Said (Orientalism)• Bauman (mutually exclusive social groups)• Holliday (negative stereotypes)• Palfreyman (English language programme)• Buber (spiritual dimension of dialogue;

embracing otherness)• Gurevitch (symbolic interactionism;

strangeness facilitating understanding)

My “Cultural Other”: contextExperiencing education as a cultural Other: Qatari

students on an English preparatory course for US/UK

universities• Historical, social, cultural context• Changing educational situation• Language switch and reversal• English language education

OR• Education in English? • Whose education is it, anyway?

My “Cultural Other”: persona• Qatari (layers of identity)

• Gulf Arab/Arab/Muslim

• Gender segregation

• Position of the family (name, wasta)

• Position in the family

• External factors (outside the family sphere): position among peers

• Public vs. private sphere

Other “cultural Others”?

• Expat teacher as the other Other

• Institution

• People

• Culture

• Nationality/ethnicity

• Religion

• Power in reverse

The other side of otherising

• Two-way traffic• What determines its criteria?• “Geography” of otherising (proximity; distance;

paradoxes of home territory vs. foreign land; the Centre vs. the Periphery – reversed?)

• Quantity/quality• Is otherness enacted through culture alone?• Is it always bad?

Areas of tension– Teacher vs. students; students vs. teacher; power

relations (institutional, social, political, economic)

– Students vs. students (nationalities; religious backgrounds and affiliations; tribal connections; social status; gender otherisation; conservative vs. liberal; “good girls” vs. “bad girls”)

 – Cultural otherness in English language education

(Arabic vs. English; QU vs. QF; local vs. foreign; traditional vs. modern; East vs. West)

Areas of dialogueMutual curiosity

Trust building: respect, constructive criticism

Rapport building : discovering commonalities, humour, caring, time

Teacher-student relationships in and outside

classroom

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• Questions?

• Ideas?

• Comments?

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