Critique of exotica : music, politics, and the culture industry
Annotation In this innovative book, John Hutnyk questions the meaning of cultural hybridity. Using the growing popularity of Asian culture in the West as a case study, he looks at just who benefits from this intermingling of culture. What does it mean when Madonna dons a bindi or Kula Shaker incorporate sitar music in their music? When Cherie Blair wears a sari to a public dinner? When the national dish in the UK is chicken tikka masala? Is this a celebration of multiculturalism or cultural appropriation? Hutnyk offers a cogently theorized political critique of the claims made in the name of hybridity and challenges the academic world to come out of its ivory tower and to engage in a critical debate around the real issues in cultural politics at the turn of the century