On Othering Processes and Politics of Unpeace

In every sphere of life, division and intolerance have polarized communities and entire nations. The learned construction of the Other—an evil “enemy” against whom both physical and discursive violence is deemed acceptable—has fractured humanity, creating divisions that seemingly defy reconciliation. How do we restore the bonds of connection among human beings? How do we shift from polarization to peace?

On Othering: Processes and Politics of Unpeace examines the process of othering from an international perspective and considers how it undermines peacemaking and is perpetuated by colonialism and globalization. Taking a humanistic approach, contributors argue that celebrating differences can have a transformative change in seeking peaceful solutions to problems created by people, institutions, ideas, conditions, and circumstances. Touching on race, gender, sexuality, nationalism, and our relationship with the natural world, this volume attends to the deep injustices brought about by othering and recommends actions for mending the relationships that are essential to renewing the possibility of peace.

About the Editors

Yasmin Saikia is a professor of history and holds the distinguished Hardt-Nickachos Endowed Chair in Peace Studies at Arizona State University. She is the author of the award-winning books Fragmented Memories: Struggling to be Tai-Ahom in India (2005) and Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971 (2011). She has co-authored with Chad Haines, Women and Peace in the Islamic World (2014) and People’s Peace: Prospects for a Human Future (2019). Chad Haines is associate professor of religious studies and Senior Global Futures Scholar at Arizona State University. He is the author of Nation, Territory, and Globalization in Pakistan (2012) as well a co-editor with Yasmin Saikia of Women and Peace in the Islamic World (2014) and People’s Peace (2019).

With contributions by Nikoli Attai, Alexander Avina, Amit R. Baishya, Camille D. Burge, Kathryn Cassidy, Timothy Grose, Maryam Khan, Frédéric Neyrat, Fabio Perocco, and Rebecca Tsosie.

Table of Contents

1. Acknowledgements
2. Introduction
3. Part 1. The Other Within
   1. 1. Hosting the Hostage: Hospitality, the Uyghur Other, and Chinese State-Imposed Peace
      Timothy A. Grose
   2. 2. The Ubiquitous Other, or the Muslims of Assam: Is Peace Possible?
      Yasmin Saikia
   3. 3. Bordering and Everyday Peace with the Other
      Kathryn Cassidy
4. Part 2. The Marginal Other: Gender, Sexuality, and Race
   1. 4. Muslims in Italy: Rooting and Pluralism, Inequalities and Islamophobia
      Fabio Perocco
   2. 5. Global North Homoimperialism and the Conundrum of Queer Asylum
      Nikoli Attai
   3. 6. Unfree Muslims: Islamophobia and the (Im)Possibilities of Muslim Belonging in America
      Chad Haines
   4. 7. Killing Machine: How Mexican and US States of Exception Turned Revolutionaries and Migrants into Bare Life, 1969–1996
      Alexander Aviña
   5. 8. There Are No Signs: Feeling Black in a Post–­Jim Crow America
      Camille D. Burge
   6. 9. Building Bridges Between Queer and Normative Muslims
      Maryam Khan
5. Part 3. Nature as Other: The Human and Non­human Relationship
   1. 10. “A Foothold in the Sheer Wall of the Future”: Extinction, Making Kin, and Imagining Peace in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
      Amit R. Baishya
   2. 11. The Earth as a Phobic Object: Negative Ecology and the Rise of Eco-Fascism
      Frédéric Neyrat
   3. 12. “Peace” for Indigenous Peoples: Land-­Based Visions of Reconciliation
      Rebecca Tsosie
6. Afterword: Imagining People’s Peace
   Chad Haines and Yasmin Saikia
7. Contributors

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.