Alterity and Narrative

Kathleen Glenister Roberts

Description

Drawing from the fields of rhetoric, cultural studies, literature, and folkloristics, Kathleen Glenister Roberts argues that identity and the history of alterity in the West can be understood more clearly through narrative motifs. She provides analyses of these motifs including infanticide, universalism, the Tower of Babel, the warrior Other, the noble savage, entropology, and the trickster. With current intellectual conflict as its subtext, this book posits that identity is always negotiated toward Otherness. Roberts interrogates narrative constructions of Western biases toward non-Western Others, with each chapter addressing a Western historical moment through an exemplary narrative. This process shows that by imagining and objectifying Others, Western cultures were creating their own Selves. In confronting the ethnocentrism of past historical moments, Roberts invites us to recognize it in the present—in a new way. Alterity and Narrative asks that we afford Others the ability to transcend their own ethnocentrism, and therefore avoid well-meaning but naïve calls for "cultural sensitivity."
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Identity, Alterity, and Narrative

1. Soteria, the Mother as Other: Medea in Ancient Greece (and Beyond)

2. A Man Cannot Be a Prophet in His Own Country: Saint Paul and Universalism

3. The Curses of Medieval Man: Reverberations from the Tower of Babel

4. Fierce Warriors: The Other as Comrade in Othello and World War II

5. The Enlightenment Noble Savage: Diderot’s Tahiti and Other Imaginary Locales

6. Modernity, Industry, and the Fatal Flaw: The Rise of Entropology in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

7. The Rhetoric of Possibility: Trickster, the Postmodern Hero

Conclusion: Intercultural Hope: Alterity Post-9/11

Notes
References
Index

Sujets

• Discourse analysis
• Communication studies
• Stylistics
• Semantics

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791479513
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

    
         Ì    i     À    ˆ    Ì   ฀ ฀   Þ       E              >     À     À    >     Ì    ˆ     Û      i   3TORIES฀AND฀THE฀.EGOTIATION฀OF฀7ESTERN฀)DENTITIES

>̅ii˜ i˜ˆÃÌiÀ ,œLiÀÌÃ

A LT E R I T Y A N D N A R R AT I V E

SUNY SERIES , N EGOTIATING I DENTITY : D ISCOURSES , P OLITICS , P ROCESSES , AND P RAXES

Ronald L. Jackson II, editor

Alterity and Narrative

Stories and the Negotiation of Western Identities

Kathleen Glenister Roberts

S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2007 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Ryan Morris Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Roberts, Kathleen 1971– Alterity and narrative : stories and the negotiation of Western identities / Kathleen Roberts. p. cm. — (SUNY series, negotiating identity: discourses, politics, processes, and praxes) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780791472170 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Social perception—Europe—History. 2. Prejudices—Europe—History. 3. Identity (Philosophical concept)—History. 4. Identity (Psychology)—Religious aspects. 5. Identity (Philosophical concept) in literature. 6. Difference (Psychology)—History. 7. Difference (Philosophy) in literature. I. Title.

HM1071.R63 2007 305.09182'1—dc22

2006100372

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Cannon and Cooper

Ou te alofa ia te oe. Ou te alofa outou.

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Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction: Identity, Alterity, and Narrative So¯te¯ria, the Mother as Other: Medeain Ancient Greece (and Beyond) A Man Cannot Be a Prophet in His Own Country: Saint Paul and Universalism The Curses of Medieval Man: Reverberations from the Tower of Babel Fierce Warriors: The Other as Comrade in Othelloand World War II The Enlightenment Noble Savage: Diderot’s Tahiti and Other Imaginary Locales Modernity, Industry, and the Fatal Flaw: The Rise of Entropology inA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court The Rhetoric of Possibility: Trickster, the Postmodern Hero Conclusion: Intercultural Hope: Alterity Post9/11 Notes References Index

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Acknowledgments

his book would not have been possible without the support of many, T many people. Duquesne University provided a Presidential Scholarship grant and generous support from the College of Liberal Arts. Everyone at SUNY Press was outstanding, especially Series Editor Ronald L. Jackson II. Colleagues in the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies sac rificed a great deal to see me through this project; I owe a huge debt to Ron Arnett, Pat Arneson, Cindy Burke, Janie Fritz, Richard Thames, and Calvin Troup. Our wonderful graduate students also contributed to the development of ideas, and several served as research assistants. I especially thank Vasil Tsarev (who provided the cover image as well), Laura Fulmer, Alex Praba haran, and Laurie Duffy. Officially, this book has been about four years in the making: the writ ing itself started with a Ph.D. seminar in 2003. But really it is the product of a young lifetime of curiosity about intercultural contexts—and the adven tures, mistakes, and friends I made within them. Without those friends and the support of my family, there would have been only grief; instead there is hope. Beverly Stoeltje, Dick Bauman, Pesio Masei, Robert Nelson, Fr. Matthew McClain, and Cem and Yildiz Zeytinoglu deserve special thanks, as do the folklore grads from Indiana University–Bloomington. You have my undying admiration. Besides my husband and son, the greatest thanks go to my large and rather loud family of origin. My father has been a model of cosmopolitan ethics. I especially thank him and my Mom and my brothers Jim, Mike, Dave, and Tim. I’m now mature enough to say (tongue firmly in cheek) that this book is about how right they occasionally are. Above all:Estoy muy alegre que Usted es conmígo.

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