ESCOLA SUPERIOR DE PROPAGANDA E MARKETING PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM ADMINISTRAÇÃO
MARIANA BUSSAB PORTO DA ROCHA
IDENTITY AND ALTERITY IN THE CONSUMPTION OF FOREIGN CULTURAL PRODUCTS:
The Germans and the Afro-Brazilian Capoeira
São Paulo 2019
MARIANA BUSSAB PORTO DA ROCHA
IDENTITY AND ALTERITY IN THE CONSUMPTION OF FOREIGN CULTURAL PRODUCTS:
The Germans and the Afro-Brazilian Capoeira
São Paulo 2019
Tese apresentada como requisito para obtenção do título de Doutor em Administração de Empresas com ênfase em Gestão Internacional pela Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing – ESPM.
Orientadora: Prof. Dra. Vivian Iara Strehlau
MARIANA BUSSAB PORTO DA ROCHA
IDENTITY AND ALTERITY IN THE CONSUMPTION OF FOREIGN CULTURAL PRODUCT:
The Germans and the Afro-Brazilian Capoeira
Aprovado em _____ de __________________ de _______
Banca Examinadora
_______________________________________________________
Presidente: Prof. Dra. Vivian Iara Strehlau, Orientadora, ESPM _______________________________________________________
Membro Interno: Prof. Dra. Thelma Valeria Rocha, ESPM _______________________________________________________
Membro Interno: Prof. Dra. Suzane Strehlau, ESPM
_______________________________________________________
Membro Externo: Prof. Dra. Leticia Moreira Casotti, UFRJ _______________________________________________________
Membro Externo: Prof. Dra. Eliane Pereira Zamith Britto, FGV
Tese apresentada como requisito para obtenção do título de Doutor em Administração de Empresas com ênfase em Gestão Internacional pela Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing – ESPM.
To Dad, my master, who still guides me.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I knew this journey would be hard and maybe this is the main reason why it took me a while to have the courage to finally jump into it. But I hadn’t anticipated the great and invaluable net of help and encouragement that would be woven to support me to get here. I am aware these acknowledgments are not nearly enough to fully express my gratitude.
Thank you, Prof. Vivian Strehlau, my advisor. From you, I will always keep the words of encouragement to become a researcher, ever since I was still finishing my master dissertation. You are the one responsible for pushing me to apply to this program, but always respecting my timing. And this is exactly the way you kept conducting our partnership over the past four years: encouragement and respect for my time and space.
Thank you, professors from ESPM and FGV. All the classes, discussions, articles (to be read, and to be written) were contributions not only to this thesis, but to my academic and personal formation as well.
Thank you, all my colleagues with whom I have met throughout my journey. You fed me with your thinking, positions, and ways of conducting your researches. In particular, I thank our research group, CoBra, for all the inputs and ideas (and jokes) you carefully gave every time I had the opportunity to update the status of my research.
Thank you, my two special study groups. On one side, my colleagues Sergio Garrido and Miriam Salomão helped me with our discussions, but most definitely, with our arguments. Our shared interest in the consumer dispositions literature has brought us together enriching my understanding of important theoretical issues. It was great to fight with you two. On other side, my friends Ana Duque-Estrada and Karin Brondino were relentlessly there for me, for absolutely everything. From studying ten straight hours on a sunny Saturday and helping me to find the most hidden articles on the web, to embracing me with the most comforting words (and snacks).
Thank you, my German family Joel, Anna Glube and Ben. Thanks for receiving me in your home and for making connections. I miss you and our beautiful city Hamburg.
Thank you, capoeiristas, for your enthusiasm and welcoming. I am grateful for your confidence in opening and sharing your life stories with me. I feel so lucky that this research has led me to meet you.
Thank you, my friends and family from “outside” who were cheering and patiently waiting for me to come back. I particularly thank Francine Messias, Silvia Oliveira, and Giuliana da Fonte. Our group was not a study group, but – wow! – how much it helped me to finish this study!
Thank you, mom. I dragged you into this with me and I didn’t even ask for permission.
Your precious operational, logistics, and emotional help lightened the burden. Thank you for always and unquestioning taking care of me and of my kids.
Luiza, Julia, and Rafael, thank you. It was also not your choice, it changed our lives and routines, it changed me. And you were there doing your best to make it easier for me. I am so grateful to you and for you. I admire you even more.
Mauro, my beloved husband. Thank you. I am aware of all the effort, understanding, patience, and so many other things I demanded from you in this period. I also know I have just survived to the whirlwind of emotions because you were there holding me.
Thank you for advising me and for coaching me. As you say, whenever the game gets too hard, all you have to do is to “call for a volta-do-mundo move” as you do in capoeira:
to take a breath, walk around the roda for a while, recollect, and then go back to the game.
“For a world where we are socially equal, humanly different, and completely free”.
(Rose of Luxemburg)
ABSTRACT
The frontiers between cultures and national economies have been pushed by the globalization movement, making the access to different ways of life easier and closer.
The consumer then has available a truly global cultural supermarket, which places a multitude of cultural models at his/her disposal, where he/she can make choices for an identity-building project. The idea of cultural identity is anchored in the sense of belonging to a group, from an integration that will come through relation with similar people. The attraction for and the consumption of foreign cultural products seems to contradict consumers’ search for cultural identity. Cultural products are loaded with contextual and historical meanings and, therefore, are expressions and manifestations of folkways. They wide open the difference between groups. By using the German consumption of Afro-Brazilian capoeira (a fight dance) as context this thesis explores the reason why consumers from the more affluent world (MAW) adopt cultural practices originated in and impregnated by the culture of the other from the less affluent world (LAW) to express their own cultural identities. In order to explore that, this research has been divided into three sequential and complementary articles. Article 1 explores to what extent a product offered in the foreign market is the same as the one offered in the original market. The authenticity discussion is key in the internationalization of cultural products. Article 2 discusses more objectively the apparent paradox of the intention of building cultural identity through the consumption of foreign cultural products. The investigation of Article 2 failed to uncover a theoretical explanation, in the international consumer behaviour literature, for the foreign attraction to capoeira. Thus, the third article explores the potential exoticism has to help illuminate consumer behaviour in multicultural contexts, by including it as one positive consumer disposition towards foreign products. For the three articles, the author used an exploratory qualitative approach. Data was collected between 2015 and 2018, through three different methods: individual in-depth interviews, non- participant observation, and documents and audiovisual materials. The data was systematically transformed in results by the use of content analysis in an iterative, back-and-forth, reading process that kept uncovering patterns within and between informants and data sets, forming the major themes that helped to answer the study’s questions. Results pointed that once the foreign value of the cultural product has been preserved after internationalization, its authenticity is guaranteed in the host culture. It is precisely its difference that will attract the new consumer, however, it is the similarity that will keep him/her in this consumption. Consumers from countries from the MAW are interested in products from the LAW not just for being any sort of other, but an exotic other. Hence, exoticism can interfere with consumption choices, an idea which is expressed by the consumer exoticism construct proposal that refers to the attraction and the willingness to experience and consume different, culturally distant, foreign products.
Keywords: Marketing. Consumer Behaviour. Consumer Exoticism. Cultural Products.
Capoeira.
As fronteiras entre economias e culturas nacionais têm sido empurradas pelo movimento da globalização, fazendo com o acesso a diferentes modos de vida mais fácil e próximo. O consumidor passa a ter um verdadeiro supermercado cultural global, com vários modelos culturais à sua disposição para que possa fazer escolhas em seu projeto de construção de identidade. A ideia de identidade cultura está ancorada no senso de pertencimento a um grupo, da integração que ser formará pela relação com pessoas similares. A atração por e o consumo de produtos cultural estrangeiros parecem contradizer a busca do consumidor por identidade cultural. Produtos culturais estão carregados com significados contextuais e históricos e, por isso, são expressões e manifestações dos modos de vidas específicos de grupos de pessoas. Eles escancaram as diferenças entre estes grupos. Utilizando como contexto o consumo alemão da capoeira afro-brasileira esta tese explora as razões pelas quais consumidores do chamado “mundo mais afluente” adotam práticas culturais originadas e impregnadas pela cultura dos povos do “mundo menos afluente” para expressar suas próprias identidades culturais. Para explorar isso, esta pesquisa se divide em três artigos sequências e complementares. O Artigo 1 explora até que pondo um produto cultural oferecido num mercado estrangeiro permanece o mesmo daquele oferecido no seu mercado original. A discussão sobre autenticidade é chave na internacionalização de produtos culturais. O artigo 2 discute mais objetivamente o aparente paradoxo entre a intenção em se construir uma identidade cultural através do consumo de produtos culturais estrangeiros. A investigação do artigo 2 falha em encontrar explicação para a atração estrangeira por capoeira, dentro do corpo teórico disponível na literatura de comportamento do consumidor internacional. Por isso, o terceiro artigo explora o potencial do exotismo para ajudar a entender a comportamento do consumidor em contextos multiculturais, ao incluí-lo como uma disposição positiva de consumo em relação a produtos estrangeiros. Nos três artigos foi usada pesquisa qualitativa. Os dados foram coletados entre 2015 e 2018, através de três diferentes métodos: pesquisas individuais em profundidade, observação não participante e materiais audiovisuais e documentos. Os dados foram sistematicamente transformados em resultados utilizando-se análise de conteúdo, num processo de leitura iterativo, que ia desvendando padrões dentro e entre os informantes e grupos de dados, formando os temas principais que iam ajudando a responder as questões do estudo. Resultados mostraram que uma vez preservado o valor do estrangeiro de um produto cultural depois de sua internacionalização, sua autenticidade é garantida na cultura hospedeira. É exatamente a sua diferença que atrai o novo consumidor, entretanto, é a identificação das similaridades que o mantêm em seu consumo.
Consumidores dos países do “mundo mais afluente” estão interessados em produtos do “mundo menos afluente não por ser qualquer tipo de outro, mas o exótico outro.
Assim, o exotismo pode interferir nas escolhas de consumo, uma ideia expressa aqui pela proposta do construto exotismo do consumidor, que se refere à atração e vontade de experimentar e consumir produtos estrangeiros, culturalmente distantes e distantes.
Palavras-chave: Marketing. Comportamento do Consumidor. Exotismo do Consumidor. Produtos Culturais. Capoeira.
LIST OF FIGURES
Introduction
Figure 1 – Field research schedule ……….. 22 Article 1
Figure 1 – Brazilian sneakers brand: Rainha………... 55 Figure 2 – Festival T-shirt collection……….. 55 Article 2
Figure 1 – Reasons why for capoeira consumption.……….. 79 Figure 2 – Examples of names in Facebook profiles of European capoeiristas 81 Figure 3 – German and French capoeiristas and their Instruments………. 82 Figure 4 – Expressions of Belk’s four levels of the self in capoeira………. 87 Article 3
Figure 1 – The reinvented exoticism: two representations of the baiana……… 104 Figure 2 – Key dimensions of consumer exoticism (C-EXO)………..…….. 115 Figure 3 – Exotic positioning..……….………... 119 Figure 4 – Exotic positioning: consumer products……….. 121
LIST OF CHARTS
Introduction
Chart 1 – Objectives by article……….. 19 Chart 2 – Profile of the respondents: general research………... 23 Chart 3 – Non-participant observation information………... 24 Article 1
Chart 1 – Profile of respondents……….. 46 Article 2
Chart 1 – Profile of respondents……….. 76 Article 3
Chart 1 – Conceptual characteristics of exoticism……… 106 Chart 2 – Profile of respondents……….. 108 Conclusion
Chart 4 – Key finding statements by article……….……… 128
LIST OF TABLES
Introduction
Table 1 – Number of interviews by article……….. 23 Article 2
Table 1 – Data collection by phase ………..……….. 75
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
C-EXO CDI
– –
Consumer Exoticism Consumer Disidentification
CoBra – Consumption and Branding Research Group COO – Country of Origin
IPHAN – Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional LAW – Less Affluent World
MAW – More Affluent World
UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION 14
1.1 Theme and Problem Formulation 14
1.2 Justification 15
1.3 Capoeira as Object of Study 17
1.4 Research Objective and Connection among the Articles 19
1.5 Methodology 21
2 ARTICLE 1
Roots and Routes: Authenticity and the Internationalization of Cultural
Products 27
2.1 Abstract and Keywords 27
2.2 Introduction 28
2.3 Literature Review 30
2.3.1 Cultural Products 30
2.3.2 Internationalization of Cultural Products 32
2.3.3 Authenticity 38
2.3.4 Capoeira 40
2.3.5 The Internationalization of Capoeira 43
2.4 Method 45
2.5 Findings 48
2.6 Final Considerations 56
2.7 References 60
3 ARTICLE 2
Choosing Identity in the Global Cultural Supermarket: the German
consumption of the Afro-Brazilian capoeira 67
3.1 Abstract and Keywords 67
3.2 Introduction 68
3.3 Identity, Consumption, and Globalization 70
3.4 Method 74
3.5 Findings 77
3.6 Final Considerations 88
3.7 References 91
4 ARTICLE 3
Experiencing the Other: Consumer Exoticism as a Positive Disposition towards Foreign Products in the International Consumer Research 96
4.1 Abstract and Keywords 96
4.2 Introduction 97
4.3 Literature Review on Exoticism 100
4.4 Field Research Design: Data Collection and Procedures 106
4.5 Field Research Findings 109
4.6 Conceptualizing Consumer Exoticism (C-EXO) 114
4.7 Final Considerations 117
4.8 References 122
5 CONCLUSION 127
REFERENCES 133
APPENDIX 144
Appendix A 144
ATTACHMENT 146
Attachment A 146
Attachment B 150
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Theme and Problem Formulation
The discussion of culture presupposes the acknowledgment of the existence of the other. It is a result of the comparison between us and them, of our similarities and differences – especially our differences, seen as the most valuable feature of the concept of culture (Featherstone, 2007). Just as similarities will establish connections and relationships, differences will expose ways of perceiving the world, doing things, and consuming other than ours.
Our perceptions of both similarities and differences are defining factors in our identity construction process. On the one hand, the search for cultural identity means to find a place and moment in which we will totally and fully feel “at home” (Bauman, 2004; Hall, 1992; Matthews, 2000), from an integration that will come through relations with similar people, our people. On the other hand, we also define ourselves by what makes us different from the others (Segalen, 2002; Todorov, 1993).
Consumption as a way of constructing and expressing identity has been well established in the consumer research (Arnould & Thompson, 2005; Belk, 1988; Levy, 1959; McCracken, 1986). Through consumption choices, people can either reinforce their similarities to elective groups and/or distinguish themselves from undesired groups.
In a globalization context, consumption choices increase overwhelmingly.
National frontiers have been pushed, making the access to different cultures easier and closer (Appadurai, 1996; Bauman, 2004; Cleveland, Erdogan, Ankan, & Poyraz, 2011; Hall, 1992; Matthews, 2000). Nowadays consumers have access to a global cultural supermarket, which places a multitude of cultural models at their disposal, wherein they can make choices for an identity-building project. We have never been as close to the other as we are now. This can either terrify or fascinate us, depending on whether we feel threatened by or attracted to it. Either way, our reaction will interpose our consumption choices.
The attraction to, and the consumption of, foreign cultural products seems to contradict consumers’ search for cultural identity. Cultural products are loaded with contextual and historical meanings and, therefore, are expressions and manifestations of folkways (Matthews, 2000). They vividly expose the differences between groups.
Thus, searching for cultural identity through the consumption of these kinds of products results in a paradox of belonging to “what is not yours”.
Identity and alterity through consumption are the main issues throughout this thesis. A generic question will underline the three articles that composes the research:
“why do consumers from the more affluent world adopt cultural practices originated in and impregnated by the culture of the other from the less affluent world to express their own cultural identities?”
The first article is about the internationalization of cultural products. The second will focus on consumption of foreign cultural products, and the third one proposes a conceptualization of a new construct in the international consumer research field that will help to elucidate the attraction that products from the less affluent world (LAW) can have to consumers from the more affluent world (MAW).
1.2 Justification
Foreign bias is an important theme of investigation in the international consumer behaviour literature. Since 1965, the most popular and traditional construct used in the academy to address it has been the country-of-origin (COO) effect (Batra, Ramaswamy, Alden, Steenkamp, & Ramachander, 2000; Dinnie, 2004). However, COO effect studies have been criticized because they approach the foreign bias as an extrinsic product attribute, focusing on the cognitive component of consumers’
response (Cleveland, Larouche & Papadopoulos, 2009; Mueller & Broderick, 2009).
Researchers noted that the bias for foreign products goes beyond quality perceptions and is due to underlying socio-psychological reasons (Mueller, Wang, Liu, & Cui, 2016), which they started to investigate through the consumer dispositions approach (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2016; Bartsch, Riefler, & Diamantopoulos, 2016;
Cleveland, Erdogan, et. al., 2011; Mueller & Broderick, 2009; Oberecker, Riefler, &
Diamantopoulos, 2008; Prince, Davies, Cleveland, & Palihawadana, 2016; Riefler,
2017; Sankaran & Demangeot, 2011; Zeugner-Roth, Zabkar, & Diamantopoulos, 2015).
Consumer dispositional constructs, such as ethnocentrism, animosity, cosmopolitanism, xenocentrism, and affinity, are organized into two major categories:
the anti-outgroup and the pro-outgroup, which are respectively negative and positive dispositions towards foreign products (Riefler, 2017). Negative dispositions have already accumulated a significant corpus of empirical investigation, while there are still few studies emphasizing positive dispositions (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2016;
Cleveland, Erdogan, et al., 2011; Oberecker et al., 2008; Prince et al., 2016).
Consumer xenocentrism is the positive disposition that deals with the “tendency to favor foreign products consistently despite their higher prices and sometimes even lower quality” (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2016). One of the two dimensions that sustain Balabanis and Diamantopoulos’ consumer xenocentrism scale (2016) is the
“perceived inferiority” consumers feel regarding when facing other cultures in the world.
The authors admit that consumer xenocentrism better explains the foreign bias from the LAW to the MAW. The xenocentrism cases they tracked in countries of the MAW (the United Kingdom, Japan, Austria, and France) all regarded to a sole country also from the MAW: the United States.
It has already been stated that globalization is unevenly distributed around the world, with a greater cultural flow from the MAW to the LAW (Ger & Belk, 1996; Hall, 1992). Nevertheless, there exists an important flow from the other direction. There is a relevant interest in the trade of ethnicity and of otherness. Todorov (2010) shows how the “barbarians” are now returning 100 years after the colonization, from the European expansion, to even the score with the “former colonizers”, impacting their national identities.
In fact, there are studies dealing with cultural products from the LAW being consumed in the MAW, such as Latin American salsa dance in the United States and England (Bloom, 2007; Urquía, 2004), the Middle Eastern belly dancing in the United States (Bock & Borland, 2011; Shay & Sellers-Young, 2003), and the Korean wave and the Hindu yoga everywhere (Beaman, 2016; Hae-Chong, 2005; Huang, 2011;
Jain, 2014; Kim, Agrusa, Lee, & Chon, 2007; Valdina, 2017). Consumer xenocentrism, for example, cannot explain it, since in these studies there is no reported trace of
“perceived inferiority” from the consumers regarding to the “exotic” places that originated these practices. Neither can the country affinity construct explain it, because a deeper interest in the specific country of origin occurs after consumption has started, which will then cause a halo effect (Lee, Han, & Nayga, 2014).
Clearly, the great attraction of these types of products relies on the symbolic value of the foreign (Batra et al., 2000; Zhou & Hui, 2003), but even though Bartsch, Riefler, et al. (2016) have tracked down 19 positive dispositions, none of them seem to explain the interest of these MAW countries in the exotic products from the LAW countries.
1.3 Capoeira as an Object of Study
As it was already presented, cultural products are distinguished by their natural symbolic characteristic of representing a folkway. Even though products, regardless of their nature, can carry cultural meaning (Arnould & Thompson, 2005; Belk, 1988; Levy, 1959; McCracken, 1986), D’Astous et al. (2008) refer to cultural products as the
“expressive products rooted in the behaviour, beliefs and identity of a society” (p. 380).
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian cultural manifestation with a complex definition, since it incorporates many elements like art, music, dance, fighting, sport, and folklore (Wulfhorst & Vianna, 2012). It is commonly known as the Afro-Brazilian martial art (Assunção, 2005), but due to the strong presence of its unique music, songs, and instruments, and the fluidity of the movements, it was better positioned to foreign audiences as the Afro-Brazilian fight dance. Capoeira was developed in Brazil during the colonial period (1500–1822) by the African slaves who were taken to forcibly work on the sugar cane farms. It is believed that in order to disguise their body training – their only weapon in case they managed to escape their slavery conditions – they added the music to it (De Castro, 2004; Fonseca, 2008; Lussac-Tubino, 2009; Rocha, Esteves, Mello, & Silva, 2015).
Capoeira has proven to be an international phenomenon. Forty-five years since the beginning of its internationalization, it is estimated that there are approximately two million capoeiristas1 in foreign lands alone, nearly 20% of the total.
Capoeira is present in at least 150 countries (IPHAN, 2007). In 2014, the “roda de capoeira”2 was included on UNESCO’s representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Capoeira’s internationalization has been considered a diasporic type, because it involves Brazilians reallocating themselves abroad, and living in a self- imposed exile from their homeland (De Campos Rosario, 2010; Stephens, & Delamont, 2010; Delamont & Stephens, 2008; Falcão, 2008; Hedegard, 2012; Rocha et al., 2015;
Wulfhorst & Vianna, 2012).
One of the most cited reasons for foreigners’ initial attraction to capoeira is its uniqueness and exotic appeal (Falcão, 2008). Despite its impressive reach, scholars believe that there is almost no adaptation in the countries in which it arrives. The names of the movements and songs are all kept in the Portuguese language, and the rituals remain the same (Almeida, Cypriano, & Pimenta, 2009; Falcão, 2008; Rocha et al., 2015; Taylor, 2007).
Capoeira has been extensively used as an object of study, but not in the field of knowledge of consumption behaviour. Out of the 18 references to capoeira that are listed in this research, only one was published in this field of interest. It is Rocha et al.’s article (2015), published in the Brazilian Administration Review journal. All the other references came from education, sport, sociology, and anthropology sources. Due to the multitude of aspects of capoeira, the Brazilian-ness rooted in it, and the size of its internationalization, its potential in helping to understand consumption in multicultural contexts is underexplored.
1 Someone who plays capoeira.
2 “Capoeira circle”: the capoeira game occurs at the centre of a circle, where two players engage with one another. The other players stand around the circle singing, clapping, and playing percussive instruments.
1.4 Research Objective and Connection Among the Articles
In order to achieve the general objective of this thesis – to understand why consumers from the MAW adopt cultural practices originated in and impregnated by the culture of the other from the LAW to express their own cultural identities – this research has been divided into three sequential and complementary articles, each with its own specific objectives (Chart 1).
Chart 1 – Objectives by article
Title Objectives
1 Roots and Routes: Authenticity and the Internationalization of Cultural Products.
(a) To explore how a cultural product with a particular geographic identity continues to be authentic after its
internationalization process.
(b) To understand the possible
consequences on capoeira’s connection to its roots and legitimacy due to the formation of a new generation of non- Brazilian instructors.
2 Choosing Identity in the Global Cultural Supermarket: the German Consumption of Afro-Brazilian Capoeira
(a) To understand the reason why foreign capoeiristas are engaged in an activity originated in and impregnated by Brazilian culture.
(b) To bring up the impact of the capoeira consumption in the foreign consumers’
lives.
3 Experiencing the Other: Consumer Exoticism as a Positive Disposition Towards Foreign Countries in International Consumer Research
(a) To identify the conceptual characteristics of exoticism.
(b) To suggest a consumer exoticism definition.
Source: The author.
Before even going further into the investigation of the foreign cultural products consumption, the first thing to make clear is to what extent a product offered in the foreign market is the same product as the one offered in the original market. Is capoeira abroad the same capoeira played in Brazil? When an aspect of popular culture moves from its culture of origin to host cultures, (re)interpretations and adjustments of the symbols are expected in order to better fit to the new audience (Aoyama, 2007; Bock
& Borland, 2011; Huang, 2011; Valdina, 2017). However, foreign-ness is key to
attracting the consumption of this product (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2016; Huang, 2011; Leitão, 2008; Nijssen & Douglas, 2011). The more it is adapted, the more it can lose the symbolic value of the foreign. Therefore, the authenticity discussion is key in the internationalization of cultural products (Koontz, 2010, Kreuzbauer & Keller, 2017;
Newman & Smith, 2016; Peterson, 2005). Specifically in the case of capoeira, the authenticity discussion is urgent, since there is already an emerging new generation of high-ranked and experienced foreign capoeiristas teaching capoeira in their own countries, competing with Brazilians emigrants.
Once the authenticity in the foreign offering of a cultural product has been established, its consumption can be better addressed. The second article discusses more objectively the apparent paradox of the intention of building cultural identity through the consumption of foreign cultural products. The global cultural supermarket offers to the individual a multitude of possibilities of groups to belong to. The exposure to different cultures and their products opens space to create malleable consumer identities, which may lead the postmodern individual to an identity crisis (Bauman, 2004; Hall, 1992; Matthews, 2000). In the middle of this myriad of “elective identities”
options, the article seeks to unravel why non-Brazilians opt to consume Afro-Brazilian capoeira and the impacts of this choice on their lives.
The investigation of Article 2 failed to uncover a theoretical explanation, in the international consumer behaviour literature, for the foreign attraction to capoeira. It is important to note that this second study researched the consumption of a cultural product from a country from the LAW by consumers from a country of the MAW (Germany). The COO effect proved to be irrelevant in this case, since the majority of the consumers had no idea a priori that capoeira was an Afro-Brazilian-originated practice. They could tell it was foreign, but not from where. Indeed, the word exotic was insistently used to justify Germans’ first interest in consuming capoeira. Exoticism – a popular concept in other fields of knowledge, such as anthropology, the arts, and literature – is an orientation that presupposes the acknowledgement of the diversity and the capacity of experiencing the other. It is considered an exercise of alterity (Segalen, 2002; Todorov, 1993). Still, exoticism was not included on the list of positive dispositions tracked by Bartsch, Riefler, et al. (2016), evidencing that it has been overlooked in the international consumer research literature. Thus, the third article
explores the potential exoticism has to help illuminate consumer behaviour in multicultural contexts, by including it as one positive consumer disposition towards foreign products. Therefore, the first objective of the last article was to identify the conceptual characteristics of exoticism, and from that to build the basis to suggest a consumer exoticism definition.
1.5 Methodology
The point of departure from which the whole methodological route was decided was the belief that the best knowledge assumption to reach the objective of this thesis was social constructivism (Creswell, 2007), or, as in Burrell and Morgan (1979), the interpretivist paradigm.
Identity and alterity are forms of relativism. That means that the objective is not a determined culture endowed with its own meaning, but rather, something that is constructed in relation to the sight of those who observe it (Murari, 1999; Todorov, 1993). The capoeiristas’ interpretation of the phenomenon is key to this work. The search is for the meaning that the subjects give to their lived experiences (Creswell, 2007). Thus, for the three articles, the author used an exploratory qualitative approach.
Both the novelty of studying capoeira as a consumption phenomenon and of bringing exoticism to the international consumer behaviour field would per se justify this decision (Creswell, 2014; LeCompte & Preissle, 1994; Morgan, 1988).
Besides to the empirical investigation, the author also conducted bibliographical research in order to get into the state of the specific knowledges and to identify possible research gaps, opportunities, and contributions to the study (Villas, Macedo-Soares, & Russo, 2008). Foreign bias and capoeira where the common themes that underlined the whole study, and are therefore the first themes reviewed.
Article 1 specifically reviews the existing publications on cultural products, the internationalization of cultural products, and authenticity. For Article 2, the literature review includes identity and consumption in the globalization context. And for Article 3, the exoticism review is crucial. In fact, the literature review was one of the objectives of the article, since the identification of the conceptual characteristics of exoticism is key to supporting the author’s suggestion for a consumer exoticism definition. It is
important to note that 55% of the total references listed in this thesis come from fields of knowledge other than international marketing. Capoeira, exoticism, and cultural products are the main sponsors in pushing this investigation out of the marketing sphere.
Germany was selected as the basis country in which to conduct the field research. This choice was justified by the fact that Germany is recognized by the capoeira community as one of the first European destinations for Brazilian capoeirista immigrants, and it was considered the “European capital of capoeira” (Fernandes, 2014). In the 1990s, the Samba Meeting, a major annual capoeira reference event, was held in Hamburg for a decade and concentrated up to 300 capoeiristas for an entire week. Today, several prominent capoeira groups in Brazil have their bases in various German cities. In a Google search for “capoeira addresses” in just four German cities (Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich), 83 locations were found for the practice of this activity. Even so, according to the specifics of each article, field research was also performed in Brazil, France, and Austria.
The data were gathered, between 2015 and 2018, split into three phases (Figure 1). Data for Article 1 were collected in the three phases; for Article 2, in 2016 and 2018; and for Article 3, all the data came from 2018.
Figure 1 – Field research schedule Phase 1
(June 2015) Phase 2
(May and June 2016) Phase 3 (June, 2018) ARTICLE 1
ARTICLE 2
ARTICLE 3 Source: The author.
The researcher collected the data through three different methods: individual in-depth interviews, non-participant observation, and documents and audiovisual materials. The interviews for Articles 1 and 3 used a semi-structured interview guides (Appendix A), that still allowed the interviewer to adapt to each respondent and explore their answers in detail (Patton, 1990). For the second article, the interviews did not follow a priori elaborated questions. The interview began with a “narrative generative question” (Flick, 2002, p. 110) to stimulate the interviewees to report on experiences that capoeira had brought into their lives. All of the interviews were conducted in a
most informal and loose manner, allowing the testimonies to be shaped from each individual’s lived experience (Fischer, Castilhos, & Fonseca, 2014). Thirty-one capoeiristas – some of whom were included in more than one article (Table 1) – were interviewed totaling 1,337 minutes of audiotaped data. The interviews were done either in Portuguese or in English. The respondents were all recruited through personal contacts. They belonged to eight different capoeira groups, their ages ranged from 21 to 77 years, and one-third were female (Chart 2).
Table 1 – Number of interviews by article Phase 1
(June 2015) Phase 2
(May and June 2016) Phase 3
(June 2018) Total
Article 1 4 2 10 16
Article 2 0 10 9 19
Article 3 0 0 9 9
Source: The author.
Chart 2 – Profile of the respondents: general research
Source: The author.
Forty-two hours of non-participant observations were made at 17 capoeira events – festivals, “street rodas”, classes, and workshops in France (Caen, Rouen, and Paris), Germany (Hamburg), and Austria (Vienna) – in June, 2018 (Chart 3). The events abroad from Germany were chosen because they were also frequented by German capoeiristas. The observations allowed for genuine social interaction with the participants in the field (LeCompte & Preissle, 1994), which were registered as soon as they occurred in a field diary, such as information, impressions, and informal conversations with the participants in these events. Videos and pictures were also taken and used to complete and illustrate the observations in the field diary.
Chart 3 – Non-participant observation information
Source: The author.
Documents and audiovisual materials were collected during interviews, at the events, through social media connections, and websites access. The author linked herself to several German capoeiristas’ Facebook profiles and to the local capoeira group fanpages. The documents and materials were digitalized, numbered, and catalogued, totaling 52 pieces (some examples in Attachment A). They were used in Article 2.
The preliminary phase of the content analysis occurred during the transcription of part of the interview along with the field diary notes, as well as, in the case of Article
2, the digitalization of the documents and materials. During this phase, a first codification was begun based on the selection of some quotes and subjects that turned out to be more frequent. For Articles 1 and 3, which used a semi-structured interview guide, the author used the template coding process, in which codes are created beforehand and applied to the text. Article 2 used open coding, the emergent coding technique with a no a priori system (Blair, 2015). After the transcription, a more careful reading began to group the codes into categories, and some connections between them started to appear (Bardin, 2007; Creswell, 2014). This iterative, back-and-forth, reading process kept uncovering patterns within and between informants and data sets, forming the major themes that helped to answer the study’s questions (Sinkovics, Penz & Ghauri, 2005).
The adoption of multiple modes of primary data gathering enabled the combination of perspectives from different sources, thereby improving the trustworthiness of the data (Creswell, 2014; Jamal, 2003; Sinkovics, Penz & Ghauri, 2008). A variety of profiles was chosen in order to examine multiple realities. Thus, the interviewees include capoeiristas with (a) varying degrees of involvement in the group, (b) different level of capoeira expertise; (c) different ages and genders; (d) different lengths of practice; and (e) different capoeira groups. The triangulation across sources and methods allowed the use of various perspectives, and thus enabled the researcher to clarify meanings and verify how consistently an observation or interpretation was repeated (Stake, 2008).
At this point, it is relevant to present the researcher’s background. As a capoeirista herself, she benefited from a shared vocabulary that enhanced her discussion with the respondents. It is common to see capoeiristas using names of coups or of game strategies in prosaic situations, as metaphors. In many occasions during interviews, they have used these metaphors. Also, being married to a well- known capoeira master facilitated her recruitment of interviewees, as well as made the access to the events easier. Nevertheless, is important to register that this could also have influenced in the interviews and observations, both in the initial content of the speeches and in their gestures. Indeed, this occurred in a few cases, especially with the other masters and Brazilian counter-masters and instructors.
All the informants, formal and non-formal, were aware of her status as a capoeirista and of her relationship with the Brazilian master. They were also aware that she was there under the condition of being a researcher, taking notes, audiotaping interviews, and gathering documents and materials.
From this point on, which of the three articles will be presented. The study will conclude with the final considerations, where the major findings, contributions, limitations, and ideas for future research are discussed.
2 ARTICLE 1
Roots and Routes: Authenticity and the Internationalization of Cultural Products.
2.1 Abstract and Keywords
The internationalization of cultural products challenges the authenticity discussion. On the one hand, the greatest attraction for the consumption of such of products is the symbolic value of the foreign. On the other hand, in order to established links to export markets, foreign cultural products are reinterpreted and adjusted to their new international audiences. At times, the modifications are so intense that the cultural product is no longer recognizable to its donor culture. In order to explore how a cultural product with a particular geographic identity continue to be authentic after an internationalization process, we conducted a qualitative exploratory study with Brazilian and non-Brazilians masters and instructors of capoeira who live in Europe.
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian fight dance, the internationalization of which started 45 years ago; the activity has spread to more than 150. Until now, its internationalization was the diasporic type, but a new generation of high-graduated non-Brazilian capoeiristas is formed and they are already teaching capoeira in their countries of origin. From the study, we also managed to track the possible consequences to capoeira’s connection to its roots and the authenticity strategies involved in this new phase of its internationalization.
Keywords: Marketing. Consumer Behaviour. Cultural Products Internationalization.
Authenticity. Capoeira.
2.2 Introduction
British Tailor: [very proudly] “we copied it [the Indian garb] from some drawings in the British Museum”.
British Royal Chief of
Ceremonies: “Splendid!”
Abdul Karim: “You do know the sash is not traditional, sir?”
British Tailor: “The Indian drawings didn’t look very … Indian. So, we made some innovations. The important thing is to look authentic!!”
British Royal Chief of
Ceremonies: “It looks sharply good to me.”
(dialog from the movie Victoria & Abdul, 2017)
The above dialog occurs while Abdul Karim is being prepared to meet Queen Victoria in 1887. He is one of the two Indians selected to travel all the way to England to present her with the Mohur, a ceremonial coin, in celebration of her Golden Jubilee.
Authenticity is a central concern in the evaluation of cultural products (Kreuzbauer &
Keller, 2017). It is a guarantee of origin, truth, and realness in what is being presented (Koontz, 2010). The academic literature questions if there is such a thing, since the common understanding is that authenticity is a socially constructed interpretation and not a property inherent to a product (Koontz, 2010; Kreuzbauer & Keller, 2017;
Newman & Smith, 2016; Peterson, 2005). In other words, it is not about being real, but being judged as real, exactly as the two British men in the dialogue imagine India should be.
The internationalization of cultural products seems to challenge the authenticity discussion. On the one hand, the greatest attraction for the consumption of this type of product is supported by the symbolic value of the foreign (Balabanis &
Diamantopoulos, 2016; Batra, Ramaswamy, Alden, Steenkamp, & Ramachander, 2000; Zhou & Hui, 2003). Products from different national or ethnic cultures can represent status, cultural sophistication, and uniqueness (Balabanis &
Diamantopoulos, 2016; Huang, 2011; Leitão, 2008; Nijssen & Douglas, 2011).
However, on the other hand, as in the cases of cultural diffusion, adjustments are made to accommodate the values of the host society. Several studies have reported how the
meanings of imported cultural products were reinterpreted in order to adjust to their new international audiences (Ayoama, 2007; Bock & Borland, 2011; Huang, 2011;
Valdina, 2017). In common, the authors point out that consumers engage in a process of interpreting, appropriating, and adopting these cultural activities on their own terms.
Cultural products are all about meaning and human creativity (Leocadio, 2008). Their internationalization has to accommodate a contemporary paradox: the need to retain a place-based identity – the connection to their roots – as well as the need to establish links to export markets for survival – the modifications throughout their routes. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to explore how a cultural product with a particular geographic identity continues to be authentic after an internationalization process.
In order to explore this, we chose to study the internationalization of capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian fight dance. Capoeira’s internationalization started 45 years ago, and it is now present in more than 150 countries (IPHAN, 2007). One of the most cited reasons for foreigners’ initial attraction to it is its uniqueness and exotic appeal (Falcão, 2008). Despite its impressive reach, scholars believe that there is almost no adaptation in the countries in which it arrives. The names of the movements and songs are all kept in the Portuguese language, and the rituals remain the same (Almeida, Cypriano,
& Pimenta, 2009; Falcão, 2008; Rocha, Esteves, Mello, & Silva, 2015; Taylor, 2007).
Capoeira’s internationalization has been considered the diasporic type, because it involves Brazilians reallocating themselves abroad, and living in a self- imposed exile from their homeland (De Campos Rosario, Stephens, & Delamont, 2010;
Stephens & Delamont, 2010; Delamont & Stephens, 2008; Falcão, 2008; Hedegard, 2012; Rocha et al., 2015; Wulfhorst & Vianna, 2012). The presence of a Brazilian who holds the knowledge of capoeira, and therefore the authority, may be one of the factors of this perceived non-adaptation with its internationalization. However, a new generation of capoeiristas3 is forming abroad, and the exclusive role of Brazilians in the teaching of capoeira is threatened. The understanding of the possible
3 Someone who practices capoeira.
consequences on capoeira’s connection to its roots and its authenticity, in this new context, is the secondary objective of this study.
We comprehend that deepening the knowledge of the international consumption of cultural products will help to better understand its halo effect. It is proven that this type of consumption results in an increase to the origin country’s brand awareness and greater interest in the consumption of other products from the same origin (Bock & Borland, 2011; Cho, 2005; Hirata, 2012; Huang, 2011; Kim, Agrusa, Lee, & Chon, 2007; Lee, Han & Nayga Jr, 2014). We proceed with the discussion by presenting a literature review on cultural products and their internationalization in general, followed by a review of capoeira and its internationalization in particular.
Empirical data collected in Europe between 2015 and 2018 support the discussion, and we end by presenting some ideas for future research.
2.3 Literature Review 2.3.1 Cultural Products
Culture is very difficult to explain, and its complexity is reflected in the multitude of definitions attempts to define it. There are more than 160 definitions of culture (Samuel Craig & Douglas, 2006; Reisinger, 2009), ranging from an all-inclusive phenomenon – where culture is nothing less than everything that humanity does – to a narrow perspective, where it expresses a people’s way of life. Despite this pursuit, culture is still “ambiguously defined, and no single consistent and integrated definition of it has been proposed” (Reisinger, 2009, p. 86).
Traditionally, the understanding is that different geographic regions determine the different cultures that exist in the world. Therefore, the term “culture” often refers to national culture (Reisinger, 2009). However, due to globalization, the easier access to different – and previously distant – ways of life make the construction of cultural identity not restricted to the national identity anymore (Appadurai, 1996; Bauman, 2004, Cleveland, Erdogan, Ankan, & Poyraz, 2011; Hall, 1992; Mathews, 2000).
Another clarification that needs be made regards to the culture consumption.
Even though it is very well addressed in the consumption research that products – regardless of their nature – carry a cultural meaning (Arnould & Thompson, 2005; Belk, 1988; Douglas & Isherwood, 2002; Holt, 1995; Levy, 1959; McCracken, 1986), “cultural products” refers to the “expressive products rooted in the behaviour, beliefs and identity of a society” (D’Astous et al., 2008, p. 380), and which are usually expressed through the arts – such as music, literature, sculpture, theatre, film, and other manifestations (Lee et al., 2014; Reisinger, 2009; UNESCO, 2005).
Regardless of the category, all cultural products bring in their essence a strong symbolic appeal, that distinguishes them from other kinds of products. This strong connection with meaning and with human creativity is the fundamental and differential characteristic of cultural products (Leocadio, 2008). They are considered (a) experience goods, which means that the ability of cultural products to satisfy the wishes of consumers is only revealed after consumption (Gouveia & Limeira, 2005).
This is what Diniz and Machado (2009) present as the “learning by consuming”
characteristic. As they state, consumers only and really discover cultural products through repeated experiences of consumption. Each new experience reveals an increase or reduction of taste. In the case of confirmation, this could justify the (b) addictive character of the consumption of cultural products (Disdier, Tai, Fontagné, &
Mayer, 2010). The present satisfaction and the accumulation of knowledge and experience affect future consumption (Throsby, 1994). Cultural accumulation is a distinctive and legitimizing factor among cultural consumers that drives them to keep going deeper in their consumption. The accumulation of cultural capital through this type of product has a particular characteristic in (c) generating status. Unlike the formal education system, the choice in consuming cultural products denotes an investment in an education of greater recognition because it indicates a voluntary choice of the individual to accumulate this capital (Diniz & Machado, 2009). The addictive and status-generating properties of cultural products may explain the frequency of their (d) collective consumption. Subcultures of consumption and fandom studies (Bussab, 2004; Ferris, 2001; Fiske, 1992) show how these consumers tend to aggregate with their fellow consumers to accumulate cultural capital and among those by whom their status will be generated. And since they are high-involvement products (D’Astous et
al., 2008) and presupposes a great amount of time and energy disposal, they are more likely to find support among other similar consumers.
The purchase and the fruition of cultural products are directly associated with the availability of the consumer’s free time, defined as the “time available after people have fulfilled their obligations, professional, family or survival” (Gouveia & Limeira, 2005, p. 55). People will, then, occupy this time with pleasurable activities, that help them to escape from the daily routine. Thus, the consumption of cultural products is also characterized as (e) leisure consumption. And, finally, cultural products have (f) low costs of reproduction. Even with a high initial investment, once a product is created, the costs of adding new consumers are negligible, and the profitability is directly proportional to the number of consumers (Duarte & Cavusgil, 1996; Gouveia & Limeira, 2005).
2.3.2 Internationalization of Cultural Products
Although production is largely grounded in uniquely place-specific cultural heritages, consumption has been happening worldwide (Aoyama, 2007), regardless of cultural distance, and contradicting the idea that the foreign cultural product trade
“between very dissimilar countries will be limited, since there is not enough accumulation of cultural consumption capital to raise reciprocal appreciation in terms of art” (Disdier et al., 2010, p. 578). In fact, generically, we found two forces that act favourably in the promotion of the internationalization of cultural products: (a) the symbolic value of the foreign, and (b) the process of (re)signification – through interpretation, adaptation, and adjustment – of these cultural activities.
Products from different national or ethnic cultures can represent status, cultural sophistication, and uniqueness (Balabanis & Diamantopoulous, 2016; Huang, 2011;
Leitão, 2008; Nijssen & Douglas, 2011). In their research with Chinese consumers, Zhou and Hui (2003) detected how foreign products, in the early years after the inception of the open-door policy, were associated with concepts such as sophistication, modernity, novelty, and faddishness. Foreign products and the adoption of foreign lifestyles represented in China a trend towards contemporary consumption.
It is important to note that international research on the symbolic value of the foreign has been focused on the less affluent world. Along with Zhou and Hui’s (2003) China study, Batra et al. (2000) demonstrated that Indian consumers also perceived non-local products and brands as symbols for status enhancement. They found that, especially for those people who admire the lifestyles of countries in the more affluent world, product preference was driven by the social meaning of foreign-ness. The same was observed by Ger and Belk (1996). The authors described the global forces that fuel consumers’ expectations and desires for foreign products in the less affluent world:
global mass media, tourism, immigration, the marketing activities of multinational companies, and the export of popular culture.
Despite the lack of theoretical explanation for the attraction to foreign products in the more affluent world, we found, in reviewing the internationalization of specific cultural products, that foreign-ness – especially when associated with the “exotic” – also delivered a special symbolic value. This was the case, for example, for belly dancing consumption in the United States (Bock & Borland, 2011; Shay & Sellers- Young, 2003), the “new Indo-chic wave” in the United States (Maira, 2000); flamenco in Japan and United States (Aoyama, 2007), and yoga everywhere (Beaman, 2016;
Jain, 2014; Kucinskas, 2016; Valdina, 2017).
The attraction for the foreign does not suggest the raw and blind consumption of it. Most of the studied cases reported how the meanings of these imported cultural products were reinterpreted to adjust to their new international audiences. The only identified exception was the anime, which was originally meant to be global. Anime is another name for Japanese animation. Its creation, in the early 1910s, was influenced by German and American artists (Lu, 2008). According to Lu (2008), the key characteristic of the anime, and the main reason for its acceptance – there are translations in more than 30 languages – is its hybrid global look and content, involving the use of universal elements. For example, one can’t by a character’s facial features identify where it is from, and by no means can one identify it as Japanese.
It is not uncommon to observe cases in which a cultural product was intentionally prepared to go abroad. In fact, there is an understanding that in order to successfully move a cultural product beyond its initially intended target audience, it
needs to be carefully packaged and marketed (Aoyama, 2007). The state, the media, and the travel industry usually lead this process, as it can be noted in the cases of the waves of popularity of Korean and Japanese culture, as well as of the internationalization of flamenco.
Both Japan and Korea (in the 1970’s and 1990’s, respectively) made efforts to reconstruct their cultural representations in the quest for national identity after industrialization (Huang, 2011). In Japan, due to their ambiguous position held in the post-war world, the objective of Japan-mania was to return Japan back to Asia, reproducing “genuine” Japanese traditions, promoting a romantic image, and using an
“Exotic Japan” positioning. These are the factors that Huang (2011) proposed to explain the reason why the Japanese trendy dramas quickly spread in East and Southeast Asia. In Korea, the flood of American products during the 1980s had smashed the Korean culture. Thus, the discourse on national identity, along with the International Monetary Crisis (Hae-Choang, 2005), were the key factors to boost the internationalization of its cultural products (Huang, 2011). A Cultural Industry Bureau was established in 1994 to promote the media industry, first in Asia and then worldwide, with products ranging from TV programs to movies, pop music, food, fashion, and tourism (Hae-Choang, 2005; Huang, 2011; Kim et al., 2007). Kim and Ryoo (2007) explained that part of the great acceptance of the hallyu, or the Korean wave, was because it also represented “an alternative and a revision of the US- dominated cultural globalization” (p. 118). Its embracement in South Korea as a source of national pride helped its reproduction and interpretation all over the East Asian countries.
National interest was also important for the international popularity of flamenco and its consequent internationalization. Refereed to an “complex art”, flamenco involves music, dancing, singing, and hand clapping, and despite it being a result of fusion and hybridity across several cultures, its origin is clearly traced to Andalusian cities, where the most economically and socially marginalized Spanish gypsy communities were (Aoyama, 2007). In the post-war period, Franco’s government promoted flamenco, along with the tourism, as a way to earn foreign currency to deal with the Spanish economy’s depression in the late 1950s. This ended up altering
flamenco from a “uniquely Andalusian cultural expression to a quasi-national performance symbol for the entire nation” (Aoyama, 2007, p. 106).
Adaptations can be necessary when a popular culture expression moves from its culture of origin to host cultures, with changes in the products that sometimes deliver an entirely different symbolic meaning to what was interpreted in the culture of origin (Arhur, 2006). The consumption of belly dancing in the United States illustrates how the cultural codes and meanings of the dance changed in the West. Shay and Sellers- Young (2003) presented how this style of dance has a legitimate place in the Middle- Eastern culture, but not a serious one. It was viewed more as an entertainment than a form of art or expression. In the West, belly dancing is interpreted as an extremely sensual feminine dance, and it started to become popular at the height of the sexual liberation movement of the 1970s (Bock & Borland, 2011). As investigated by the authors, many belly dancers claim it is an “ancient ritual to [the] Mother Goddess,”
which is not attested among Middle Easterners, leading Shay and Sellers-Young (2003) to proclaim that “many choreographers try to justify the inclusion of fantasy elements through claims of dedicated research, what one colleague referred to as ‘a desperate search for authenticity’” (p. 26).
We also found examples of the adaptations of cultural products’ “features”
when they began to be consumed by “foreigners”. To expand upon the flamenco example, singing was originally the centre around which flamenco was developed; yet because international tourists didn’t master the Spanish language, the dancing expression became its main representation (Aoyama, 2007). Indeed, internationally, flamenco is most commonly known as a Spanish dance4.
Urquía (2004) has a noteworthy point regarding the consumption of salsa dance: “salsa is a marketing term that refers to a collection of Caribbean music genres that have interacted with each other and North American music” (p. 96). By the mid- 1970s, a mixture of mambo, cha cha, rumba, and freestyle started to represent a new era of Latin dance that came to be known as salsa (Bloom, 2007), and which remained a dance of the street – not taught, but absorbed into the nightclubs. By the 1990s,
4 El Pais’s 1996 article, “To many people, the word flamenco means dance” (Trans. in English by World Press Review).
however, a studio-based salsa started to be produced in New York – a more complicated spinning style – that distinguished itself stylistically and culturally from the Latin dancing (Bock & Borland, 2011). Urquía (2004) showed in her study that in London, the “New York salsa style” has much more demand, acceptance, and value than Latin America’s style.
Australian hip-hop and Japanese manga, are also examples of products that were changed and mixed with local meanings to better fit the audience. The hip-hop culture – which involves four key activities: rapping, graffiti art, breakdancing, and DJing – ended up promoting the “hip-hop” positioning to some clothing brands, for example. Mass-produced hip-hop brands originating in the United States, and associated with commercialization and artificiality, were not perceived as authentic in the Australian context. To create their own identity, Australian hip-hop adopted a local flavour: local hip-hop clothing brands, the intentional use of Australian accents, and the replacement of the talk of the ghettos with the talk of the suburbs, for example (Arthur, 2006). The internationalization of manga – the Japanese comic books – was driven by the worldwide consumption of the anime. Manga incorporated many foreign influences before it began to be exported (Hirata, 2012). Even though adapted to the Japanese way of life, the content of manga depicts issues and situations familiar to non-Japanese as well, such as school life, love stories, teenagers’ problems, and so on. Global brands, such as Coca-Cola and Star Wars, are common references in manga.
One of the most impressive cases of a cultural product’s internationalization is that of yoga. Six years ago, it was estimated that it was being practiced by 21 million American adults practicing it, representing 9.5% of the U.S. population (Kucinskas, 2016). In 2014, the United Nations proclaimed the 21st of June the “International Day of Yoga” (Beaman, 2016). There is much confusion about what yoga really is, and from where its cultural roots originate, although the first mentions of it were registered 2500 years ago in texts that referred to Buddhist practices (Jain, 2014). There are 17 different meanings attributed to the word “yoga” (Valdina, 2017), ranging from breath exercise, physical posture, fitness, well-being enhancement, stress reduction, and enlightenment pursuit to avoid reincarnation (Kucinskas, 2016). Valdina (2017) attributed the great variation in yoga meanings to the different interpretations made in
the translation of the Yoga Sutra, the classic text on the theory and practice of yoga tradition: “the Yoga Sutra in a postcolonial era is a work that can be purchased in a variety of translations, requiring no initiation, extended travel, or connection to a living master in order to access [it]” (p. 306). This uncomplicated access to yoga allowed it to easily and rapidly spread around the world.
The muddling way in which yoga spread ended up de-territorializing it. There is still a “selective xenophilia” towards some of its features – which keeps the symbolic value of its foreign-ness, and the “Hindu/Zen” mood – but it has been appropriated as a “local” product. In 2013, a Southern California lawsuit – Sedlock v. Baird – brought this discussion to evidence. Ashtanga yoga was introduced into the public school system of California. After its first roll-out in elementary schools, a school district received some complaints from parents that the programme was religious in nature, and therefore, against the law. The final decision was made to keep yoga in public schools. But, as Beaman (2016) noted, the key statement for this result was the defence’s argument emphasizing the American-ness of yoga, eliminating any religious meaning from it. The author uses the following section of the lawsuit to illustrate it: “The essential point is that yoga, as it has developed in the US in the past 150 years, is a distinctly American cultural phenomenon. It is rooted in American culture as much, and sometimes more, than in Indian culture” (Beaman, 2016, p. 107).
The Indian-American author Singh (2013) deplores that a choice has to be made between being American and being Indian, that one entity simply cannot be both, and that the agency behind this choice can rest exclusively in the hands of Americans:
“it is unfortunate that the race to protect the existence of yoga in American public schools created the need for an argument that requires a severing of cultural ties in exchange for integration”. She understands it as a way of protection of the American identity, expressing a feeling of “love yoga, but hate South Asians”. This leads us to Bock and Borland’s (2011) question: to what extent do these practices of self- fashioning mystify, damage, or commodify the donor cultures?
Maira (2000) reported the ambiguous reaction of South Asian Americans to the new “India-chic wave” of the 1990s. They felt both positive for the moment of recognition and of cultural recuperation, and negative for the appropriation,
