Otherness is a central category in many scholarly disciplines, a key term dealing with difference, both through examining outside markers and by understanding internal characteristics. Moreover, otherness is inextricably bound to defining selfhood and identity, on psychological, gender-related, cultural, cognitive, religious, social, ethnic, racial, geographical (and many other) levels. Dealing with otherness is a central element in human history: recurrent problems and repeatedly surfacing (but frequently unexpected) new developments maintain the question of “acceptance or refusal” on the agenda. One could add a colorful palette of additional ways of relating to the “other”: fascination, curiosity, tolerance, or domestication, degradation, suppression. It seems to make sense to maintain a dialogue, how the representatives of various disciplines handle these issues – there is a lot to learn from each other.
The university-wide seminar series has been introduced in 2015 as part of the Intellectual Themes Initiative, and it is meant to stimulate better internal communication on academic matters, as well as increase interdisciplinary and cross-unit collaboration at CEU. To learn more about the series and past seminars, please visit: https://www.ceu.edu/iti/seminars