I WAS, AFTER ALL, A FOREIGNER. A THOUGH ON A CONTINENT INITIALLY ABSENT OF AN OTHER (ANTARCTICA, 20TH CENTURY)

Abstract

The exploration of Antarctica, the encounter with this territory opened a new field of though on otherness. A field around the question; What happens in those new territories where there is not an "Other”? This new scenario, a continent initially absent of an Other, reminds us of the constructed and contingent nature of otherness. Otherness no longer understood as an essence, as an exteriority, as a necessary condition for though on otherness but as an opportunity and an excuse to do it. For this we will explore a series of encounters between scientists and whalers in Antarctica in the early twentieth century, as a fertile field of reflection on otherness. Here, we will analyze the encounters and coexistence between members of the scientific expedition "Cope Expedition" (1920-1921) and the crew of the Norwegian company Sydhavet A / S. For this we will analyze the diary written by one of the scientific expedition members -Thomas Wyatt Bagshawe- published 20 years later under the title "Two Men in the Antarctic". The aim of this paper is to explore this encounter as a moment of production of alterity, focusing on whaling as a possible non-native otherness, a non-essential otherness. Exploring how 'the Other' is represented, and the ways in which this representation is constructed through story.