I have never felt anything other than Peruvian even though I was born in an Arabic family. Yet, there was a point in my life in which I realized the conservative values my family taught me didn’t fit with those of the society in which I grew up. The virtue of otherness resonates with me at a very personal level: as someone in the vast minority, I had to find my own self and embrace it. Bonsiepe points out that these days design reflects the interests of the dominating economies, in which globalization is an attempt to incorporate otherness as well as to subject it. The reason why I have chosen Thandie Newton’s TedTalk as a secondary text to complement this notion of otherness lies in the fact that being considered the “other” isn’t something bad; on the contrary, it’s something to be respected thanks to the rich uniqueness it represents.

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Growing up in England with a white father and a black mother from Zimbabwe, Thandie had a hard time fitting in. The color of her skin and hair and her lack of faith in God automatically made her the “other”, which oftentimes left her feeling anxious, confused, and even ashamed. The self’s struggle for identity, according to Thandie, ends with awareness of the reality of oneness. Personally, I find my oneness when I paint. With each stroke of my brush, I disconnect from the dominating forces around me, and I reconnect with my very own self.

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Therefore, my intent for my printed book is to portray the battle in the search for identity, globalization’s claws reaching out to incorporate and subject the “other”, their resistance to remain unique, and the importance of the acceptance of their values. As part of my research, I will look into other TedTalks that talk about otherness as well as books on the same subject that help reinforce these ideas.