Describe a specific moment when you felt Othered based on a social category (race, ethnicity, gender, social class, religion, nationality, or sexuality), OR when you witnessed a social interaction (verbal or nonverbal) in which you perceived Othering to be taking place towards another person). Many of you already described such interactions last week, when you observed evidence from which you concluded that dynamics of power and social class may have led to the mistreatment of a fast food worker by a wealthy-appearing customer.

First, describe what happened: who were the main social actors? How did they communicate, verbally and/or nonverbally? Were certain acts or things treated as symbols (e.g, clothing, hair, images, physical objects, etc.), Were there witnesses (audience)? How did the audience or various social actors react? What was the setting (stage)? What roles were people playing? Did you notice yourself or others shifting performed roles in response to the incident? How? Make sure you mention what kind of Othering was taking place (based on which social category listed above, and why).

Examples of theories and concepts you might want to mention include: cultural racism/colorblind racism, intersectionality, power for patronage, theories of gender and sexuality as discussed in lecture and textbook. You can also mention collective identity, stigmatized identity, social/relational identity, nature/culture dynamic of race, etc, PROVIDE the EVIDENCE that supports your analysis.

And when you write this post, I hope you will reflect on how your post can help others’ understand bigger issues. When you are commenting on others’ posts, start making connections