Literary Theory

I'm sick of Othering. There, I've said it! I, an English major, am sick of Othering!

"What the hell is Othering?" non-English majors ask. Othering is part of postcolonial literary theory developed by Edward Said that describes the way in which one group of people defines itself against and above another group of people. For instance, the West is depicted as Christian, rational, and democratic; the East, on the other hand, is depicted as heathen, sensual, and despotic. Therefore, the West is superior to the East and is justified in dominating it. The whole point is to justify racist and imperialist ideas, though it can be applied to other relationships (men and women, for instance).

Othering, as a theory, isn't "wrong" in my opinion. It's really quite valid. If you're observant, you can see it in a whole bunch of places. I'm just sick of it because I don't think it's often particularly useful. Does recognizing the Othering of India in Jane Eyre really help us understand the novel better? I don't think so. Yet, in my Victorian Literature class last semester, we talked a lot about the Othering of India in Jane Eyre. And that's just one small example from one class. It's really gotten on my nerves, for some reason.