Othering Is So Not Cool Anymore: The Ethiopian Age Of Exploration

513 Words3 Pages

Mary Walters
Michael Lynch
Section 003
Dude, Othering is So Not Cool Anymore In the years of Marco Polo (1254-1324) leading to the Ethiopian Age of Exploration (1306-1458), othering, orientalism, and racism was a big leading factor of separation between civilizations. More so, between the “east” and “west.” What do these words mean you ask? Well long story short: othering is labeling a person you don’t know as something opposite of what you are; orientalism is a stereotypical label against Asians; and racism is hatred/belief that people other than whites, are not as good enough or don’t belong. Othering and racism overlap but are not quite the same, and this is apparent in Matteo Salvadore’s writing, The Ethiopian Age of Exploration: Prester …show more content…

But back when Marco Polo was alive, the “west” were people who lived in the Mongol region. Marco Polo was from Venice, and there they referred to westerner’s as “others.” Throughout the reading, the word “other” is said a lot, especially in a certain part of the story line. “Other visitors…” (Latham, 130), “Other city…other province…” (Latham, 130) “other residents…those of any other city in the world…” (Latham, 30). Of course, you could say that the other just so happened to say that word a lot in the reading, but it shows up numerous amount of times in one whole paragraph. Why would an author say the word “other” as many time as he did, in the ways that he did? Also throughout The Ethiopian Age of Exploration: Prester John’s Discovery of Europe, 1306-1458, “other” is used in one section with a lot of more understanding, “Christian identity and where a religious paradigm of sameness and otherness trumped race and color in discourse on difference.” (Salvadore, 594) “Racial and nonracial otherness,” (Salvadore, 595) As said in the above paragraph, otherness and racism overlap but are not quite the same, so why would racism not be chosen? Because later on in the paragraph it goes on to say, “…images of otherness is an indication of shifting social relations and patterns of hegemony…” (Salvadore, 595) It also continues to say, “…Muslims as the ultimate