Class 2 - Getting started

2024-08-28
4 min read

Welcome

We’ll do a quick five-minute check in first of all in breakout groups. Then we’ll run over the course details again, and talk about how it is going to work this semester.

I’ll start by introducing the class as a whole, and I’ll just take you through the Canvas site to show you around and to fill you in on the details about how we’re going to work.

Musical Interlude

Now let’s start with some music. I’ll share the link with you. I wanted to share this because a) it is beautiful, and b) it brings together all kinds of different musical instruments from across the world into a wonderful harmony. So it’s a piece of music that demonstrates, in one way, our main theme: dealing with difference. It’s by a band assembled by American Chinese cellist, Yo-yo Ma. Click the link here.

Now we’ll have a free-write in response to the music. Spend five minutes writing in response to this question:

What pleasure did you find in this music video?

Breakout Groups 1:

We’ll now discuss the reflection work you have done. In groups, think about the two writing exercises you did. The first exercise was about somebody who has always fascinated you because they are not like you, or they are other to you. The second exercise was about experiencing yourself as another.

In your groups, discuss:

  1. Who you wrote about in the first exercise. What interests you about this person? How are they “other” to you?
  2. What was this experience? Was it good or bad? How did you respond to it?

We’ll take 15 minutes, and then we’ll feed back in the main group.

All-group discussion

We’ll take some time to share any thoughts!

Break!

These are longer sessions, so we’ll take a 5 minute break!

Breakout Groups 2:

Now we’ll get down to some thinking about this idea of otherness. I want you to talk through these questions that you have been reflecting on:

  1. What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of recognising other people are the same or like us?
  2. What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of recognising other people are different or other to us?
  3. Does difference or otherness exclude the possibility of social cohesion?

About Kapuściński

We’re going to move on to talking about the first of our texts. So we’ll start by watching this short film about the author, Kapuściński, considered one of the great journalists of the 20th century. His book The Other explores the experience of otherness in its various dimensions.

Watch the video

After watching the video, we’ll see if there are any comments you want to share.

Homework for the next session

For the next session, you will be reading — if you haven’t done already —  the first chapter of Ryszard Kapuściński’s book The Other (skipping the introduction). You can find the book on Perlego, and you’ll need to log in through Parami.

This chapter is called “Conquest and Exchange.” Kapuściński was a Polish journalist, and here he reflects on his own encounters with otherness, and the broader human concerns with otherness.

Think about the following questions:

  1. What do you think Kapuściński means when he says, “every encounter with the Other is an enigma, an unknown quantity — I would even say a mystery.”
  2. Kapuściński writes from a European perspective. How does this concern with others and otherness translate into your own cultural context?
  3. Our relationships with others tend to divide between curiosity (what in ancient Greek is called philoxenia, the fascination with the other) and fear (xenophobia, the fear of the other). In what ways do human societies manage this combination of fear and curiosity?
  4. Albrecht von Haller writes “Nothing is better able to dispel prejudices than familiarity with many peoples of disparate customs, laws and opinions — an otherness that for the price of a minor effort teaches us to cast off what makes people different, and to regard as the voice of nature the things on which all peoples agree.” What is he arguing here, and what is he saying about otherness and sameness? Do you agree?

Make notes on all of these questions. Mark them 1, 2, 3 and 4. There is no need to copy out the questions in your notes. Post your notes on the discussion board. GRADED, due by the end of Monday 2nd September, ICT.

Please post as REPLIES to the question thread! This keeps everything in one place.

Next Class 1 - Introduction