Othering in We Were Here

Othering in We Were Here
By Ali Faris, with the gracious guidance of Professor Laura Scott and Dr. Kristin Samuelian
George Mason Creative Writing Department

Abstract:

We live in an era of rising fascism and imperialism, and the war in Ukraine is the latest example. At the core of these movements a similar trait is shared, that of othering- dehumanizing the opposing party for the benefit of the aggressor. My creative thesis, written for the English Honors program and under the mentorship of Dr. Kristin Samuelian and Professor Laura Scott, is a work of speculative fiction that addresses the concept of Othering as its main thematic core. In a world of tomorrow, a society has burgeoned forth whose government is able to breed and exploit in-vitro bio-synthetic oxygen based humanoid beings birthed to be used and taken advantage of for their essence. Whole forests have been siphoned and used up for breeding these O2s, after which they are harvested and taken on a train to be valved at their napes. This story allows the reader to analyze the unequal power dynamic between O2s and the rest of society, and study how certain people blindly and purposefully use and objectify others. Through the interactions of my story’s principal characters, instances of finding humanity in the other- between O2s and everyone else- works as a way to break the mold of societal conditioning, becoming imperative in order to permanently change the way of things for the better, with justice and equality for all.

Keywords: Literature, Science Fiction, Othering, Society, Speculative Fiction

Othering in We Were Here
By Ali Faris, with the gracious guidance of Professor Laura Scott and Dr. Kristin Samuelian
George Mason Creative Writing Department
Transcript:
Hello everyone! Hope you’re all living well and fulfilled and enjoying today. I wanted to talk to you about my Honors Thesis project, which examines Othering in the world of my developing novella, We Were Here.
We live in an era of rising fascism and imperialism, and the war in Ukraine is the latest example. At the core of these movements a similar trait is shared, that of othering- dehumanizing the opposing party for the benefit of the aggressor.
My creative thesis, written for the English Honors program and under the mentorship of Dr. Kristin Samuelian and Professor Laura Scott, is a work of speculative fiction that addresses the concept of Othering as its main thematic core.
In a world of tomorrow, a society has burgeoned forth whose government is able to breed and exploit in-vitro bio-synthetic oxygen based humanoid beings birthed to be used and taken advantage of for their essence. Whole forests have been siphoned and used up for breeding these O2s, after which they are harvested and taken on a train to be valved at their napes.
This story allows the reader to analyze the unequal power dynamic between O2s and the rest of society, and study how certain people blindly and purposefully use and objectify others. Through the interactions of my story’s principal characters, instances of finding humanity in the other- between O2s and everyone else- works as a way to break the mold of societal conditioning, becoming imperative in order to permanently change the way of things for the better, with justice and equality for all.
The following passage is from the third section in my story, chosen with the hopes of illustrating a bit of backstory for the audience to become more familiar with my world. Thank you!

***
He sighed and looked to Ilsa, who, regardless of the sorry existence that had manifested out of the pandora’s box of that rainy night, had still entered into his life, a non-judgmental grace. Whose music transformed, like magic, herself and her listeners. Who reminded all to remember the sacredness of every single moment.
Ilsa, whose melodies had drawn the attention of crowds from all around the country, yet who’d stow away with Rick in a booth deep in the annals of Salvation after a set, covered up and content with having a cold beer with her old confidant. Ilsa, who years from now would look back on her days with Rick Matthews with charm and fondness, a gentle man who she considered a guardian as much as a neighbor, a father as much as a friend, even if she felt his reservedness, his unwillingness to spend too much time together. Ilsa understood that their friendship required distance. She never felt alone knowing Rick lived next door, even though he never knocked, and was happy to know his ears and eyes would be in the crowd at Salvation every night that she performed with her band of percussionists, even though she’d rarely spot him when they’d play.
It was Rick who’d seen Ilsa crying on her front porch one night, after returning from her first and only gig at the commander of the Corps, Madame Derangé’s, mansion. It was the first time Rick had come near Ilsa’s property. With a swiftness unexpected for his age, he’d gone and got a blanket to put over her shoulders, a handkerchief to wipe away her tears, a cup of borage tea to calm her nerves.
“They’re humans Rick, I swear,” she remembered telling him, haunted at the sights she had seen at the Corps Commander’s mansion. “Real humans only they look a little different, lost in the eyes, submissive, broken…. And these tubes, Rick, they all just lounge around sucking the life force out of these poor souls and call it luxury. They say they don’t feel but I’d see them wince every time someone would inhale oxygen from the valves at their neck. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t perform while seeing all that horror. How could they? They were human Rick, oh god they were human.”
Rick had spoken to her then longer than he ever had up to that point. He told her all he knew about O2s, ever since he discovered the Corps’ plotting to create them. He worked for the Corps long ago as a mechanic in his twenties, there to maintain the high tech audio accelerators that they’d patented in order to monopolize sonar-travel. The Corps were powerful, sure, but meant to protect, designed to serve the common good of the people. But then some time passed, and under the guise of environmental research they began to infect the forests. There they’d plant bio-synthetic embryos within the trees, which would gradually seep them of their vitality and wither them to the bone as the Corps would repeatedly extract humanoid O2s from within them, who they’d then exploit, enslave, use for their own personal gain. They’d left the underprivileged populace to live in a ravaged climate unless they were wealthy enough to purchase O2s of their own in order to guarantee their health. And people wondered why there was a rise in respiratory disease since the conception of The Nest. Rick left the Corps soon thereafter to pursue a career in law enforcement– young, naïve, all those years ago.
And still the corrupt exploited. And still, the rest of us suffered.
Seven years had passed since the night at the Corps Commander’s mansion. Ilsa had never returned. She chose instead to find a home in Salvation, which Rick wholly supported, and where she would continue to play every night of the seven years leading up to today, to crowds growing larger and hungrier for her music with each transcendent performance.
***
Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day everyone!