On otherness, othering & being othered

I recently read Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race and found myself continuously nodding in agreement like the dog in the Churchill television adverts of the mid-90s. While I’ve always had a quiet interest and curiosity about what makes certain cultures less tolerant of others, Eddo-Lodge’s book gave me the much-needed vocabulary to confidently talk about growing up in Germany and the UK in predominantly white neighbourhoods. Eddo-Lodge explains that “Neutral is white. The default is white [...] Blackness, however, is considered the ‘other’”. The Other, meaning that which is different from something or oneself.

While the theme of Otherness comes with negative connotations that can at times be a sensitive topic to approach with our children, I want to maintain a sense of positivity around this topic so that we as parents and carers can encourage our children to celebrate cultural differences.

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In this post, I will talk about the wordless picturebook Door by Seoul-based illustrator JiHyeon Lee. Although this book isn’t explicitly targeted at our BAME child, it does through the use of colourful pencil illustrations, bring to life the story of a curious boy who discovers a world full of different creatures as he ventures through a long-unopened door. In spite of its slightly utopian approach, I see this book as a great tool to open up conversations with our children to discuss issues of race and belonging in a very easy to understand and light-hearted way; something that is much-needed in today’s socio-political climate. Themes of inclusion, open-mindedness and friendship become apparent as the boy is welcomed into this other world.

The sheer size of this book makes it perfect for us to share with our children. As it’s a wordless picturebook, we can spend quite some time pouring over the full bleed colour illustrations, carefully interpreting the meaning behind each page.

So much of this book is notable, but so that I don’t go on for too long, I have chosen to focus on the pages which speak directly to this posts theme.

A lonely world

As we turn the first couple of pages, we are introduced to the dour world this young boy inhabits. People drawn in shades of grey, walking hunched-over and unhappy through a vast and empty landscape. The big empty space the boy occupies on the first page as well as the people bleeding off the pages accentuate the solemn solitude of this world.

A celebration of Otherness

As the boy goes through the door, his first encounter with a creature from this foreign land leaves him a bit frightened. Running off to escape this gentle man-creature, the boy is once again startled, this time by a girl-creature. Eventually the boy follows the girl as she leads him to a picnic which is being set up by a variety of creatures of different colours, shapes and sizes. Despite not understanding each other’s language, the boy is instantly welcomed into their midst, enjoying colourful food and frolicking in their festivities.

Each page-turn of this book is a celebration of full bleed illustrations that capture this colourful and lively world these creatures - each different from the next - live in together harmoniously. Entering the world through different doors, various creatures come together again as the landscape turns into a fairground, a wedding ceremony and ending up with a feast of different foods and a joyous party.

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So, what can we learn from this book?

There is a subtle tension in this story which facilitates us to have a conversation around who actually represents the Other. Is it the boy who is human like us, or is it the various creatures who actually are in the majority but don’t look anything like us.

Taking a closer look at the young boy, throughout the story you will notice the transformation in him from grey-scale to full colour. This transformation illustrates what can happen when we chose to be open instead of being fearful of Otherness.

Whichever side our children choose to identify with, what matters most is that by staying open-minded and welcoming of other cultures, our lives have the potential to be filled with joy as we choose to live side-by-side with different cultures in the way the different creatures do, all the while celebrating each other’s differences.

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Additional books on this theme The Island - by Armin Greder This book which is aimed at an older audience, captures the negative side of what can happen when communities, fuelled by fear, aren’t as welcoming of the Other.

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Cited Works

• Eddo-Lodge, Reni. Why I’m no longer talking to White People about Race, London, Bloomsbury 2017.

• Lee, JiHyeon. Door. Chronicle Books, California. 2018.

• Greder, Armin. The Island. Australia, Allen & Unwin. 2007.