Reflection 5: Neumann

Letting others live, and coexistence are dilemmas of modern time, just like nationalism. With limited resources and land at hand, how do we escape the perpetual state of war with one and other? Look at us, we no longer carry swords or pistols around with us- though the risk of getting robbed, mugged and etc. remains. Yet we rely on institutions to protect us from the dangers. We even rely on institutions to protect us from ourselves at some instances. So are we,  in a way, progressing? Are we becoming better humans? For Iver Neumann, we are simply making sense of ourselves differently because the times have changed, as well as the who we see as the other(s).

Iver B. Neumann's Uses of the Other was the recommended reading for this week, and was a very good follow-up to Carl Schmitt. By using Europe as a case study, he presents the self/other nexus with respect to West's East, against the Russian and the Turkish others. I originally ordered the book amon my nationalism readings, but it was a nice coincidence to have it for this course as well.Neumann refers to Nietzsche's position on knowledge: "Nietzsche stressed that the world does not simply present itself to human beings; rather the activity of knowing is a formulation of the world. it is the knowing that makes the self not the other way round. [...] 'i' am a number of different ways of knowing and that there is no such entity as a permanent or privileged self" (12). However, it is commonly agreed that foreign policy is about making an other from a perspective of 'i.' Neumann then presents Michael J. Shapiro's time and space dimension in self/other nexus: "Self/other relations have to be understood in their historicity; they are aspects of historically contingent ideas of self, which again are rooted in historically contingent ideas about time and space" (23). I could not have agreed more with the impact of time and space on the self/other creation and maintenance. However, even this is only one way of looking at this nexus.Feminists (or Gender theorists) would add the gender dimension to conclude that "Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings."* We embrace the slash between "self" and the  "other" as means of distancing ourselves. As we hide beyond our differences, we neglect our similarities. "I hope there will be no more unnatural barriers between us and them" says Ender, which could definitely help with facing the other for whoever they are (307). Rather than giving religion, God or technology or attempting to change Piggies reproductive system we just need to let others be- unless they would like to change.

I think that the human mind is still not able to comprehend all of the multi-dimensional nature of the self/other nexus. Yet, we understand more than we ever have. The trouble is, what do we do with such a knowledge and understanding. For too much understanding can do just as much harm as too little understanding of the other.

* Cheris Kramarea.