User:Sagarw33/Exoticism

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Exoticism (from 'exotic') is a cultural phenomenon in which Western artists became fascinated with ideas and styles from the East due to the profound cultural differences. More specifically, it adopts a cultural perspective that is firmly entrenched in the ideals of the Western civilization and hence, constructs the East as the archetypical location of “Otherness”.

The History of Exoticism
The word 'exotic' is rooted in the Greek word exo ('outside') and means, literally, 'from outside'. Etymologically, something considered exotic if it is "located outside oneself or at least if it is felt as being so". Hence, this concept does not reside in the object, and instead, relates to the relationship between the object and the subject. In other words, Exoticism arises when a given artistic-cultural community perceives visual and verbal images, musical devices, and other elements in a given cultural product, in a foreign manner.

Stimulated by Eastern trade in the 16th and 17th centuries, it experienced its first boom during the age of Enlightenment, when sources engaged with the non-European world flooded the market around. This included printed anthologies, personal travel narratives, prints depicting foreign building and famous monuments, as well as paintings of “exotic” flora and people. Other influences were following European colonialism over lands in "China, India, Africa, and the Pacific". .

Controversy
“Exoticism”and related terms and phrases, such as “Orientalism” have at times been been considered problematic. As a result, some critics have criticized the attempt by Western composers to evoke a distant land and convey foreign culture. For instance, Joseph Kerman famously termed Puccini’s Turandot a “depraved” work, denouncing in particular “ the bogus orientalism lacquered over every page of the score.” Others have decided to utilize more neutral phrases such as “cultural transfer,” or “cultural hybridity”.