A World without Others? Specter of Difference and Toxic Identitarian Politics

Abstract

The specter of “difference” has been haunting the modern world since the time of colonial encounters. The paradigm of the “One,” which portended the death of difference and diversity, is equally problematic. Consequently, the modern world faces resilient and paradoxical notions of a world without difference, which continues to throw up toxic identitarian politics predicated on racism, tribalism, sexism, patriarchy, xenophobia, homophobia, and even “walled states” that invest massive resources in containment of transnational human mobilities. The recent highlights of these toxic politics include Brexit and the rise of Trumpism, which are reincarnations of the politics of a world without others in the midst of a globalized universe. This article offers an overview of the key contours of difference and the manifestations of the toxic identitarian politics haunting the twenty-first century through a broad critique of Cartesianism and egocentrism, Enlightenment reason and the idea of Europe, Eurocentrism and the notion of empty lands, and Orientalism and Islamophobia, in the process exploding the resilient myths of a world without others and highlighting the possibilities of pluriversalism. In short, the article spells out the dystopia of the world without others as it also reflects on the utopia of a world with others (pluriversity).