CHAPTER 4 THE SPECTACLE OF THE 'OTHER' 225

Introduction
How do we represent people and places which are significantly different from
us? Why is 'difference' so compelling a theme, so contested an area of
representation? What is the secret fascination of 'otherness', and why is
popular representation so frequently drawn to it? What are the typical forms
and representational practices which are used to represent 'difference' in
popular culture today, and where did these popular figures and stereotypes
come from? These are some of the questions about representation which we
set out to address in this chapter. We will pay particular attention to those
representational practices which we call 'stereotyping'. By the end we hope
you will understand better how what we call 'the spectacle of the "Other"'
works, and be able to apply the ideas discussed and the sorts of analysis
undertaken here to the mass of related materials in contemporary popular
culture - for example, advertising which uses black models, newspaper
reports about immigration, racial attacks or urban crime, and films and
magazines which deal with 'race' and ethnicity as significant themes.
The theme of 'representing difference' is picked up directly from the
previous chapter, where Henrietta Lidchi looked at how 'other cultures' are
given meaning by the discourses and practices of exhibition in ethnographic
museums of 'the West'. Chapter 3 focused on the 'poetics' and the 'politics' of
exhibiting - both how other cultures are made to signify through the
discourses of exhibition (poetics) and how these practices are inscribed by
relations of power (politics) - especially those which prevail between the
people who are represented and the cultures and institutions doing the
representing. Many of the same concerns arise again in this chapter.
However, here, racial and ethnic difference is foregrounded. You should bear
in mind, however, that what is said about racial difference could equally be
applied in many instances to other dimensions of difference, such as gender,
sexuality, class and disability. 1'

Our focus here is the variety of images which are on display in popular
culture and the mass media. Some are commercial advertising images and
magazine illustrations. which use racial stereotypes, dating from the period of
slavery or from the popular imperialism of the late nineteenth century.
However, Chapter 4 brings the story up to the present. Indeed, it begins with
images from the competitive world of modern athletics. The question which
this comparison across time poses is: have the repertoires of representation
around 'difference' and 'otherness' changed or do earlier traces remain intact
in contemporary society?
The chapter looks in depth at theories about the representational practice
known as 'stereotyping'. However, the theoretical discussion is threaded
through the examples, rather than being introduced for its own sake. The
chapter ends by considering a number of different strategies designed to
intervene in the field of representation, to contest 'negative' images and
transform representational practices around 'race' in a more 'positive'