alterity

American  

[awl-ter-i-tee] / ɔlˈtɛr ɪ ti /

noun

Anthropology, Philosophy, Sociology.

1. the quality or condition of being different, especially of being fundamentally different from or alien to the sense of identity of a person or cultural group; otherness.

   Ethnic nationalism seeks to deny alterity and generate homogeneous enclaves hostile to all forms of difference.

   God and paradise retain an ultimate alterity, and hence remain beyond the compass of human art.

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Etymology

Origin of alterity

First recorded in 1425–75; Middle English alterite “change, transformation, difference,” from Middle French alterité, from Late Latin alteritāt-, stem of alteritās “alternation, change,” equivalent to alter “other” + -i- connecting vowel + -tās noun suffix, modeled on Greek heterótēs “otherness, difference”

Example Sentences

That alterity set in motion a series of experiences that gave my life meaning and gave me an advantage that I think is incredibly precious and hard-won.

From New York Times • Jun. 24, 2020

And, to be honest, I’m very charmed by the image of freshman Deborah Treisman rushing out of her graduate seminar on alterity to make it in time for gamelan drumming.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 16, 2017

Her influential thought experiment “The Left Hand of Darkness” uses this strategy to explore gender and alterity.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 10, 2016

Related Words

• characteristic
• contrast
• difference
• differentiation
• discrepancy
• discrimination
• divergence
• division
• judgment
• nicety
• perception
• quality
• sensitivity
• separation