Encounter EEs/EHEs ,The Other Record Type: Review   ID: 213
Celebrating the Other: A Dialogic Account of Human Nature Sampson, Edward E.
Justice cannot be done to this book in an abstract. Sampson is known for criticizing psychology for privileging one view over others: that of the ideal American white male. In this view, everyone else, including women and other races, do not speak on their own behalf but are allowed only to play the roles as Others who serve the desires of the dominant group. In this book Sampson takes on Western culture and civilization. He points out how it is self-celebratory (or one might say ego-obsessed), and has built an entire view of the world that favors the white male position. Sampson writes on behalf of the Other, in whatever form. He shows how reality is constructed from dialog in which there are always two different viewpoints. Each should be allowed its say: The truth is in neither, and only approximately in the middle position. One pair’s middle position will need to dialog anew and with an Other. This does not lead to falling into quicksand. It forms an interwoven fabric that can hold all the bodies in the world, ever responsive to each one’s need. Ultimately, we are all Others, and the only way we can meet ourselves is in dialogue with an Other. Part I consists of two chapters as Prologue. Part II contains 4 chapters on Monologism: Celebrating the Self, the last being on "The Enlightened Suppression of the Other" (most effective). The third section Dialogism: Celebrating the Other, has four chapters, the last being especially important, because it is about how even in dialogism a power factor can lead to the suppression of the Other. There are 3 chapters in Part IV, which sets forth the ethical and societal implications of a world in which no one is privileged (i.e., in which all are privileged). This is an excellent introduction to multiculturalism as well as the individual Other.
Publisher Information:	Boulder, CO: Westview, 1993. 207p. Bibl: 189-201; Ind: 203-207

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