The Two Sides of Otherness: A Cross-Cultural Regeneration of Reality
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Abstract
In our current context, “identity” often stands as an edge where one being ends
and the next begins; simultaneously separating and unifying. Yet, this inherent
overlapping between self and other continues to be threatened by ideological
and homogenizing narratives; either as a force of assimilation or division.
Among the many affected areas around the world is the Korean Demilitarized
Zone, the Russo-Ukrainian Border, and the Carlisle Pennsylvania Indian
Cemetery, in which hostile situations pose a unique yet difficult edge condition
that might be mediated by empathetic imagination instigated by architecture.
Responding to each situation, we examine how architecture might act as an
archive for deeper understanding and exchange in an attempt to mediate new
realities. Philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty confirms this method through
his concept of “flesh”, which examines the relationship between oneself
and the Other as “reversible,” wherein edges become folds in order to gain
a deeper interpersonal, intercultural and intersubjective understanding of the
Other ourselves.