Being the Other: An autoethnography

This autoethnography presents the experience of being othered to becoming an agent of change. Topics are presented as autoethnographic vignettes. The vignettes are critically analyzed from multiple perspectives, to provide the rich multi-dimensional touch points that describe our lives. These perspectives include Helm’s (1990) perspective on racial identity, Bussey and Bandura’s (1999) take on developmental gender identification, Jones’ (2012) ideas for resisting homophobia in schools. Othering (Caballero, 2009; Dwyer & Buckle, 2009) is looked at as a racial, religious, gendered and cultural phenomenon. Emigration is also discussed from the perspective of internalized oppression (Williams, 2012). In addition, LGBT topics are explored (Butler, 1993; Culler, 2007; Duke, 2008).