ABSTRACT
There can be no doubt that we absorb the messages around us about the ‘Other’ that the media and the culture we are in project. There is also no doubt that today the media is a very powerful tool for those who want both to control society and to sell ideas and products to its members. For this reason we have included a section in this book on ‘representation’, which is the way the world is presented to us. Representation and Othering are similar processes. One could argue that Othering is a form of representation that projects the Other but in a negative ‘inferior’ manner. However, a subtle difference that we feel exists is that whereas Othering is a natural consequence of dichotomization and the affirmation of the Self – and is therefore something we have to be wary of as individuals – representation is more political in that it is controlled by external bodies that offer images and understandings of the Other for us to consume. It is often guided by political purpose. Theme 3 of Section C concentrates on looking at how our understanding of the world and the people in it may be mediated.
