Literature Review on Exoticism

As a representation of one’s culture for consumption by another, exoticism has been well-addressed in arts (music, painting, and design) and literature research. In these fields it is considered as a genre in which rhythms, melodies or instrumentation are designed to evoke the atmosphere of far-off lands or ancient times. Ravel, Debussy, and Gauguin are, for example, considered “exoticists”. Jones (2007) defines it as “the representation of one culture for the consumption by another”.

We understand, indeed, that exoticism has been overlooked and should be brought to international consumer research literature, since it has the potential to help the understanding of consumer behaviour in multicultural contexts. Hence, the objective of this paper is to propose the inclusion of exoticism as one positive consumer disposition towards foreign products, by (1) identifying the conceptual characteristics of exoticism, and (2) suggesting a consumer exoticism definition.

A multidisciplinary literature review – including the sociology, anthropology, arts, literature, and tourism fields – provided us with insights to identify the defining characteristics of exoticism. In sequence, based on empirical evidence generated from a qualitative study and on the framework to research positive dispositions suggested by Bartsch, Riefler et al. (2016), we propose a conceptual definition of consumer exoticism (C-EXO). We finish this article presenting an agenda for further investigation on this topic.

can’t coexist; the notion that the relationship to the other is twofold – both close and far – must prevail (Baudrillard & Guillaume, 2008). Interest in the exotic can make someone get closer to it, but the consciousness of the difference must keep existing, fueling curiosity. When near and familiar, the exotic is no longer exotic – which is a paradox in exoticism, according to Todorov (1993). Knowledge about the exotic must be enough to be minimally intelligible; but a certain mystery (3) must remain (Leitão, 2008). The enigma is part of the exoticism’s seductive power (Aravamudan, 2012;

Baudrillard & Guillaume, 2008).

In his study, Segalen (2002) proposes a typology for exoticism, since he viewed different kinds of others to be enchanted for: (a) geographical exoticism – the most common type, usually manifested in ethnic and cultural differences; (b) temporal or historical exoticism – situated in a different historic moment, in an idealized past;

and (c) sexual exoticism, less explored by the author, the fascination for (and willingness to live like) the opposite gender. No matter the type, all these differences in relation to the other are evidenced from the perception of the asymmetries found in the world. As they are associated with political and economic power indicators, the asymmetries also reproduce themselves in socio-cultural forms and expressions, dividing the world in “superpowers” and “peripheral” cultures (Motta, 2015).

This gets clearer when one realizes that the identification of “who is the other”

is passed on, for historical reasons, through a Eurocentric vision (4): Americans, Africans, and later Asians are considered “the (for us) exotics” (Foster, 1982). The seduction of exoticism leaves the Europe-America axis only after the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, when it starts to include the north of Africa and parts of the East, such as Egypt, Syria, Arabia, China, and India. Baudrillard and Guillaume (2008) point out the fascination British, French, and German intellectuals have for the Indian language, culture, religions, and philosophy. In the 1930s, for example, there was a real boom in the French interest in the so-called art négre, which gained a never-before-seen prestige, represented by the consumption of African masks and sculptures and of the jazz musical style (Mathews, 2000; Motta, 2015).

From this perspective, there is a strong sense of nostalgia (5) within exoticism (Motta, 2015; Murari, 1999). This sense is formed in two possible ways: by admiration

for the natural and physical environment of the other (nature), or by admiration for ethical and social relations (people). For the exote (Segalen’s term to refer to “those persons possessing a great capacity for experiencing diversity, and hence exoticism”

(p. 74), the other has not yet corrupted its physical environment nor is corrupted by the typical social relations of “advanced” societies. Therefore, one can note a desire for the primitive (6), for the naive, and for the pure and true (7). The other is seen as the

“good savage”. This individual finds in the other culture (in space or time) what his own Western-European civilization should not have destroyed. The exote is someone disappointed with the civilizing process, which values a less contaminated and corrupted world. His will is to return to life before progress; hence his nostalgic feeling (Motta, 2015; Murari, 1999).

In an article on the “Asian boom” in Japan, Nakatani (2003) mentions the role of nostalgia in the Asian¹⁵ decorating artefacts consumption trend, especially textiles, which for a period became a mania in this country. Considered more modern than the southwest of Asia, the Japanese buyers began to appreciate the simplicity and the handmade process of the articles imported from this region. Through the consumption of these products – which they used to express their individuality – they felt an ancestral connection with these countries.

Some cultures propagate the perception of otherness about themselves in a process called self-exoticism (Ventura, 1991) or domestic exoticism (Hall-Araújo, 2013). In order to confirm a market expectation, the exotic self-label will succeed the more it meets and fulfils the fantasies and expectations of external consumption (Motta, 2015). Hence, some countries become themselves their own protagonists in the process of building and negotiating exoticism. This concept then ends up being the result of the very contradiction that is embedded in this expression that defines it, because it combines the gaze turned to what is foreign with the perception that one has of oneself (Ventura, 1991). As Murari (1999, p. 47) translates, it is the “exoticism into our own eyes”. This “constructed alterity” could be explained by the “scarcity of otherness” (Baudrillard & Guillaume, 2008; Segalen, 2002). These authors show how

15 “Asians” for the Japanese were Indonesians, Thais and Vietnamese, what Westerners call Southwest Asians.

Western societies have reduced the reality of the other through colonization and cultural assimilation. Thus, they understand – although with critics – that the invention of a “fiction of the other” is a way of surpassing scarcity.

In the process of meeting market expectations, these “foreign” products are often stereotyped, and end up delivering to consumers what Motta (2015) called “the folkloric exoticism”. The different “made for export” product may represent the

“traditional culture” – that no longer necessarily reproduces the current and daily way of living of the people – or may represent a (re)constructed representation in order to be more easily consumed by the external market. Both forms – traditional or (re) constructed representations – become part of the imaginary and the expectations of the international consumer. In Baudrillard and Guillaume’s (2008) words, “alterity is constructed more than it is discovered” (p. 51).

Mathews (2000) shows, for example, how the coto music, shakuhachi, shigin, shodo, sumie and kimono¹⁶ can be as exotic to the Japanese as they are to the tourist who once in Japan hopes to find these cultural expressions on the streets. The author describes how traditional Japanese culture has become exotic to the Japanese themselves who live in Japan today. Below is a transcription of part of an interview with an old Japanese dance teacher, who considers herself the guardian of “true japanism”, feeling threatened by the Westernization of Japanese life, promoted by globalization.

“Wearing kimono is absolutely necessary to practice Japanese dance; once I wear my kimono in the morning, I have this Japanese spirit inside me. Very few people currently wear kimono constantly. Most people do not even know how to wear a kimono. I ride a trolley in the morning, and people stare at me:

wearing kimono has become unusual. Although this is the typical Japanese costume, the Japanese look amazed at me. My grandmother used to tell me:

‘This is the costume of the Japanese, and they should be proud of it!’ The kimono has been passed on for hundreds of years in Japanese culture, but now they look amazed at me! It's really sad – this is what happens in Japan today” (Mathews, 2000, p. 84).

Hall-Araújo (2013) shows how Carmen Miranda¹⁷ helped to reformulate a modern idea about Brazilian-ness and reconstructed aspects of Brazilian exoticism that were massively distributed in the international market through Hollywood. The

16 Shakuhachi is a bamboo flute; o shigin is singing poetry; shodo is the calligraphic art and the sumie is the nankin painting.

17 Carmen Miranda, nicknamed “the Brazilian Bombshell” was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress and film star who was popular from the 1930s to the 1950s.

most popular and distributed representation of Carmen Miranda is her conception of a baiana¹⁸ and her interpretation of the song “O que é que a baiana tem?”¹⁹, composed by Dorival Caymmi. The typical and “real” imaginary of a baiana represents her by an Afro-Brazilian woman, who can either work with the sale of typical foods on the streets or be a mother of saints, which is considered the “supreme priestesses” of candomblé, a religion quite present in the region. In Freyre's (1986) conception, already racially and culturally hybrid, the baiana has a kind of aristocratic posture, has grace, wraps her head in a turban, wears a round skirt, and is adorned with many accessories such as earrings of gold, bracelets and amulets. But the Carmen Miranda baiana – that which has been internationally sold – is a white woman who is glamorously dressed in a fantasy outfit, trimmed to accentuate the sexy curves of her body, in a clear context of carnival and humour (Figure 1).

Figure 1 – The reinvented exoticism: two representations of the baiana

Source: assembly made by the authors from the Google Images archive: on the left the Carmen Miranda’s representation of the baiana, and on the right, the typical one.

In this way, one can note the ability and sagacity of the “natives” who manage to “pack” the local culture, trimming and shaping it, to better fit the taste and expectations of the foreign consumer. As Motta (2015) says, “from this folkloric exotic, the illusion of the genuinely authentic and residual, as a trait and proof of a culture that, well or not, in the eyes of the other foreigner, remains heroically resisting the transformations of time” (p. 160). The nostalgia feeling, fundamental for the exotic consumer, is therefore nourished.

18 The baianas do acarajé or simply baianas are black and mestizo women of the Brazilian state of Bahia who prepare and sell acarajés and other traditional African-Brazilian food in the streets of the cities.

They traditionally dress up with a very long and round skirt, lace blouse, turban, flip flops and lots of necklaces, earrings and bracelets.

19 In free translation: “what’s special about the baiana?”

All this discussion leads us to the authenticity (8) issue in exoticism: the self-exoticism idea can bring the questioning of what is ultimately considered authentic in a culture. All are in a permanent process of construction and representation (staging), and in this general sense, all cultures could be considered to have a “represented authenticity” (Piscitelli, 2002).

Finally, exoticism was associated with the elite. Only those who had capital could have access to exotic products, like the royalty and the rich merchants who were exploring the oceans. But globalization and the easier access to different cultures have democratized the consumption of exotic products (Leitão, 2008; Motta, 2015). In big cities, where the global cultural supermarkets are hyper-supplied, these products are actually within reach of every citizen’s everyday life. In parallel with what Berger (2004) did when he related the sacramental to the difficult, with the unavailable, we could understand that once the distance and difficulty of access were eliminated, these products would also lose their exotic status. But despite its popularization and democratization, according to Leitão (2008), this consumption still remains nowadays, because there are still associations of cultural sophistication, charm, and status of uniqueness (9) attached to exotic products, which overflow to the identity of those who consume them. One of Motta’s (2015) hypotheses to explain the expressive reception of exoticism in French culture and in other European countries, despite the ease of access, was the transformation of the exotic into a profitable import and export business on a world scale. This transformation was fostered by the market logic of the cultural industry and the tourism economy.

Chart 1 summarizes and displays the nine conceptual characteristics in the order they were addressed in the review.

Chart 1– Conceptual characteristics of exoticism

Source: The authors from the literature review.