Alterity

Alterity means 'otherness', strictly being in the sense of the other of two (Latin alter). It is generally now taken as the philosophical principle of exchanging one's own perspective for that of the "other."

It was established by Emmanuel Lévinas in a series of essays, collected under the title Alterity and Transcendence.

In anthropology it is used by scholars such as Johannes Fabian, Michael Taussig and Pauline Turner Strong to refer to the construction of cultural others.