Experiencing Otherness through Technology: The Lessons of Photography

Experiencing Otherness through Technology: The Lessons of Photography

Working with a definition of experience as ''a potential learning process produced by an encounter with something new, an obstacle or challenge that moves the subject beyond where it began,'' this article differentiates between the ''others'' encountered by the subject in that learning process in terms of Aristotle's distinction between poiesis and praxis. In the former, the ''other'' is experienced as an object to be formed in a process of production or creation, whereas in the latter, it is another subject in an intersubjective interaction. The article then explores the ways in which technology in general and photography in particular mediate experiences in each case. After examining the alternative modes of poiesis that can be called domination and disclosure, as well as the implications of treating events rather than objects as the origins of photographic images, the article concludes with an investigation of the communicative functions of the new ''social photo'' enabled by the internet and social media.