Europe’s earliest others were internal figures like the Wild Man, not overseas peoples

Evidence

Otherness outside Europe was not necessarily as important as otherness within Europe. Tales of strange beings outside Europe - such as Herodotus’ tales of monstrous beings overseas - were matched by tales of others within Europe, such as the “Wild Man” and the “Green Man.” These figures were real enough considering that Europe until the eleventh century mostly consisted of forest and uncleared land, so much of Europe was unknown and mysterious. Pagan practices continued locally long after the imposition of Christianity. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 186

Categorization

• XREF: Complicates the vault’s general orientation that ‘othering’ originated primarily in colonial encounters with non-Europeans; suggests racialization’s preconditions include intra-European unknownness.
• DEFINE: Offers the internal/domestic Wild Man and Green Man as an early European archetype of otherness preceding overseas racial others.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 186