Belonging without Othering - The Mechanics of Othering


Nov 19
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
University of Richmond, Zoom gathering

Please join us as we continue our discussion series on john a. powell and Stephen Menendian’s book, Belonging without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World. New participants are welcome at any time!

After exploring narratives of hope and demographic opportunities for belonging, we now shift to examine how othering becomes institutionalized and structurally embedded in societies, producing and reproducing group-based inequality. This session will cover the third part of Chapter 7, The Mechanics of Othering (pages 263-301). Together, we will explore how group identities and the processes that created them become embedded in social structures and how othering is systematically used to implement and maintain oppressive systems.

Curious about the conversation but haven't read the book? Join us anyway! Our discussions welcome diverse perspectives and questions. You can engage with the ideas, listen, and decide if you'd like to read along.

Email Dr. Keith W. McIntosh at cio@richmond.edu, for more about Intersections and to join the conversation.

Meeting Details:

What this session will explore:

  • How violence functions as a mechanism of othering and social control.
  • The ways discrimination becomes institutionalized in social structures.
  • How segregation, secession, and expulsion physically enforce othering.
  • The structural embedding of group-based inequality in societies.

What attendees will gain:

  • Understanding of how othering operates systematically through institutions.
  • Recognition of the multiple mechanisms that maintain group hierarchies.
  • Tools for identifying structural and institutional forms of othering.
  • Insight into how spatial and social arrangements reproduce inequality.

Reflection Questions:

  1. The authors describe violence as a structural mechanism of othering rather than only individual acts. How do the examples in the reading or the resources provided help you see violence as embedded in systems?
  2. Where do you see discrimination showing up not only as interpersonal bias but as institutionalized practice? 
  3. Tools like Segregated by Design and the NYT’s Richmond heat map illustrate how segregation is engineered through policy and space. How do segregation, secession, and expulsion function to maintain group boundaries and hierarchies?
  4. How are group identities (racial, economic, immigrant status, etc.) embedded within and shaped by structural systems? What examples stood out to you from the reading or the additional resources?
  5. How do these mechanics of othering connect to the identity formation processes and fear mobilization we explored earlier in Chapter 7?
  6. What makes these structural forms of othering durable or difficult to dismantle? What do you notice about power, narrative, or institutional design that contributes to this durability?
  7. How might understanding these mechanisms—and seeing them in both national and local examples—inform efforts to create belonging at UR?