The Exotics

Having an unusual physical appearance or even an accent in your local context makes you subject to regular questioning: “Where are you from?” You do not mind the small talk, you are used to the questions until the word ‘exotic’ is thrown in there. 

This word recently caught my attention; it stands in the way of the speaker’s intentions, like a fly in front of your television screen. Although I have experienced this transgression in the past, my friend’s story illustrates this communicative phenomenon more thoroughly. She is Dutch, which means she was born in Amsterdam, grew up in Amsterdam and has a Dutch passport. Her roots however, are Eritrean from Northern Africa. If you do not know her background, she could be classified as having multiple ethnicities. To other’s this is interesting. Questions about her background often come paired with comments such as “what a wonderful exotic surprise!” This was a recurring topic of conversation for us and this allowed me to think about why this term is used and what exactly is meant by it? 

 

Let us start by looking at our own discipline, anthropology. Anthropologists and especially cultural anthropologists are traditionally recognized as studying societies in various contexts and cultures. “Armchair anthropologists” studied other far-away contexts; from their own armchairs so to speak. Malinowski later introduced fieldwork, a form of ethnographic research within anthropology. He brought anthropology “of the verandah” by studying and thus living amongst native Papuan people.

If we look at anthropology today, Malinowski made a step in the right direction. However, it doesn’t allow us to disregard his methodology within the field. He has been greatly critiqued for his diary as being the “most nakedly honest document in the annals of social anthropologists” as he says, “The exoticism breaks through lightly, through the veil of familiar things”. This revelation in fact worked in our discipline’s advantage: it pointed the way towards a more self-aware and reflexive anthropology. In succession, we developed the terms “emic” and “etic”, which made room for the one’s being studied.

 

So where does this bring us today?

 

Today, anthropology does not only study distant cultures and contexts, but we are increasingly recognizing our own society as one worthy of study. We now critically analyze endogenous societies, thus moving away from Malinowski’s simplistic marginalization of what he called “the savages”.

Despite having previously participated with this view, it is time to critically analyze our endogenous society, Western culture in particular. I am not saying that the use of this word is a recent phenomenon; my observations simply initiated my interest in it. Popular Western culture employs the word “exotic” through different media. What immediately comes to mind is a particular music video called “Exotic” by Pitbull. It stars the Indian actress, singer and winner of Miss World in 2000, Priyanka Chopra. She is, without a doubt, a very beautiful, unique-looking woman, but by placing her at the center of this music video titled “exotic”, gives us every excuse to put one and one together. Popular culture constructs our idea of what exotic is supposed to be. The first scene depicts her in the sea surrounded by palm trees, dancing around in the water.

 

We must “strip it all of its cheap finery: palm tree and camel; tropical helmet; black skins and yellow sun […]”

 

Linguistic anthropology, which Carol Eastmen refers to in Aspects of Language and Culture, clarifies this as being a structure in which culture and language are related to the structure of thought. In other words, what cultures produce through speech becomes a thought; this thought is also reenacted in certain cultural settings. “Exotic” in this case, becomes linked to a certain image through language and therefore thoughts. In Essay on Exoticism: An Aesthetics of Diversity, Victor Segalen advised us to “strip it all of its cheap finery: palm tree and camel; tropical helmet; black skins and yellow sun […]”.

What exactly does it mean to be exotic? To comment on someone’s appearance, their way of being or even their background as exotic, suggests that they are different. On the surface, this may appear to be a harmless compliment. On the other hand, we are suggesting that they do not fit into the norm of that particular society. By doing this, we are “othering” them. Segalen suggested that “exoticism of space” refers to a “failure to adapt to surroundings”. Should it advocate that everyone who looks different or interesting should be placed into one general category: The Exotics. Whatever happened to cultural, ethnic and racial differentiation? Segalen went so far as to reduce exoticism and “exotic” to the “colonial”.

Similarly, in other contexts this word is considered offensive or even classified as “micro-racial aggression”. In my opinion this is not the case, but it does not take away the fact that this word produces its own reality. It is essentially a term used to refer to places and things; not people. On a last note, if we think “exotic” refers to an image including coconuts, white beaches and beautiful, mysterious women holding big palm leaves, what would exotic mean for those people?

 

If we think “exotic” refers to an image including coconuts, white beaches and beautiful, mysterious women holding big palm leaves, what would exotic mean for those people? Comment below!