ABSTRACT
This book explores and analyses cultural encounters to expose the diversity of ways in which ‘otherness’ has been constituted, communicated and transformed in contemporary and historical contexts. The complex processes of othering, crucial in the formation of identities in Europe and beyond, are investigated here through the analysis of cultural representation understood as both an epistemological and a political issue. The theoretical concerns and themes addressed throughout the book contribute to debates about representation and encounter, engaging with the work of Bhabha, Clifford, Fabian, Hall, Said and other analysts of cultural and gender politics. As such, the book attempts to ‘re-present ‘otherness’ by extending and re-evaluating current work on the politics of representation in the fields of anthropology, cultural history, film and media studies. In pursuance of this aim, the authors in this book bring interdisciplinary perspectives to bear upon the cross-cultural dynamics of cultural representation, especially in relation to the production, appropriation, collection and display of written texts, visual images and material objects. Examining the social, cultural and political institutions and processes through which ‘otherness’ has been constructed in terms of race and gender, the book also provides critical reflection upon academic discourse which exaggerates or essentialises the ‘other’. The authors, then, explore issues around cultural encounters that move beyond traditional conceptions of the ‘West and the rest’ towards genuinely dialogic, multidirectional and polyphonic perspectives.
