Investigating ‘Othering’ in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street

Matava Vichiensing

Abstract


In Sandra Cisneros’s novel The House on Mango Street is about the Latino experience as a minority group in the United States. This article focused on the concept of ‘othering’ originally as part of a post-colonial theory. This concept can be related to feminist and Marxist perspectives as well. It is also involved in many academic fields, including literature. The construction of othering in this novel can be manifested in forms of linguistic features, mimicry, double consciousness, unhomeliness, gender roles, and socioeconomic class. The findings represented the negative effects of the othering practices in which affecting psychological, economical, and sociocultural dimensions of the people in general.


Keywords


othering, post-colonial theory, feminist theory, Marxist theory, Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2002). The empire writes back: Theory and practice in post-colonial literatures (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2009). The post-colonial studies: The key concepts (2nd ed.). London, U.K.: Routledge.

Beauvoir, S. (1972). The second sex (H. M. Parshley, Trans.). Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin.

Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. London, U.K.: Routledge.

Boréus, K. (2001). Discursive discrimination and its expressions. Nordicom Review, 22(2), 31-37.

Canales, M. K. (2000). Othering: Toward an understanding of difference. Advances in Nursing Science, 22(4), 16-31.

Cisneros, S. (1991). The House on Mango Street. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Culea, M. (2014). Challenging 'othering' mechanisms. Replacing African darkness and absence with the light of presence and celebration in Chinua Achebe’s no longer at ease and the education of a British-protected child. Studia Universitatis Petru Maior - Philologia, (17), 93-109.

Du Bois, W. (2007). The souls of Black folk. B. H. Edwards (Ed.). Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press.

Fitzsimmons, S. R. (2015). Us, them, and others in management research. Academy of Management Review, 39(3), 73-5.

Golkowska, K. U. (2014). Empathy and Othering in Joseph Conrad's Amy Foster. Arab World English Journal, (2), 60-68.

Halliday, L. E., Boughton, M. A., & Kerridge, I. (2014). Mothering and self-othering: The impact of uncertain reproductive capability in young women after hematological malignancy. Health Care for Women International, 35(3), 249-265.

Kitzinger, C., & Wilkinson, S. (1996). Theorizing representing the other. In S. Wilkinson & C. Kitzinger (Eds.), Representing the other: A feminism & psychology reader. London, U.K.: Sage Publications.

Littlewood, R., & Lipsedge, M. (1997). Aliens and alienists: Ethnic minorities and psychiatry. London, U.K.: Routledge.

Maccallum, E. J. (2002). Othering and psychiatric nursing. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 9(1), 87-94.

Ng’atigwa, F. X. (2014). “Othering” and “Others” in Religious Radio Broadcasts in Tanzania: Cases from Radio Maria Tanzania and Radio Imaan. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 26(2), 230-243.

Said, E. W. (1977). Orientalism. London, U.K.: Penguin.

Tyson, L. (2015). Critical theory today: A user-friendly guide (3rd ed.). London, U.K.: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.2p.52

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2012-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature

To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the journal emails into your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders.