This week I thought the topic othering was very interesting.
Every day we can experience the in- and outgroup relations that are connected
to it. This is also the topic I will pick up in the paper.
I am from the part of Germany that used to be the GDR, the
communist regime. My parents grew up during that time and I was born right
after the wall came down.
I study now in the former ‘West Germany’. Since I moved I
often had to deal with the jokes about ‘the East’ and the prejudices people
had/have.
What makes me stick out as ‘other’ are my identity markers:
my dialect, the food I prefer and prepare, growing up without any religious
background etc. There are many other examples, but the point is that there are
still huge differences and sometimes I feel excluded, if people only bring up
the prejudices and think of me in a bad way because I am from the East. This is
not always a bad thing and I think I found a good balance between being part of
the outgroup and proving wrong prejudices, therefore even stopping the
‘othering’ or laugh about them.
I still like the cultural differences that exist and I like
how there are so many facets of what Germany really is. Starting with my
generation this process of othering has changed and is not anymore just something
negative. I think we are on a good way – even though the wall still exists in
older people’s minds.
Ulrike Heinicke
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