‘Exotic’ is Not a Good Term to Describe Arabs

posted on: Jun 1, 2021

By: Noureldin Mohamed/Arab America Contributing Writer

We often pass by the term ‘exotic’ when we, as Arabs, are described or even depicted in movies and TV shows. That seems to be the only positive notion besides the negative ones in which ‘terrorists’ seem timelier, especially after the 9/11 attacks. However, it appears that the word ‘exotic’ is also another inappropriate term to describe an Arab. Human beings tend to want to relate others and identify them into groups, its human nature. But these identities seem to turn into stereotypes, ones that may affect an entire ethnicity in a negative way. The word ‘exotic’ defines as “introduced from another country: not native to the place where found” or “strikingly, excitingly, or mysteriously different or unusual.” But here, in the United States of America, it is quite ironic for the world’s ‘melting pot,’ as some may call it, which includes immigrants from all over the world, past and present generations, to include alienated people.

In the process of getting a green card, immigrants often receive the Alien Registration Card or permanent resident. Sure, alien does not seem as offensive, but the coffee shop worker may see you as ‘exotic’ if you wear a Hijab or even have a middle eastern type necklace. It seems that the term exotic originated from indigenous plants, or when you talk about food, it can be exotic. However, it is quite different when it comes to humans, regardless of whether they are Arab-American-born, children of immigrants, or even first-generation immigrants. Arabs are just like any ethnicity; they hold value to certain cultural practices and ethics, may even hold certain values to one of the three monotheistic religions; or none at all.

Orientalism As a Means To Justify

“… [T]he European representation of the Muslim, Ottoman, or Arab was always a way of controlling the redoubtable Orient, and to a certain extent the same is true of the methods of contemporary learned Orientalists, whose subject is not so much the East itself as the East made known, and therefore less fearsome, to the Western reading public.” This is how Edward Said, American-Palestinian professor, and intellect who’s a son of an American citizen and a U.S. Army veteran, coined the term ‘Orientalism.’ When we search and read about Orientalism, it seems a little less hostile than ‘exotic.’ Said explained that Orientalism embodied distinctions between “East” and “West” precisely so the “West” could control and authorize views of the “East.” The Western views of the “East” are not necessarily the views of the inhabitants of these areas, and it often involves seeing Arab and Muslim culture as exotic, backward, uncivilized, and dangerous. It hardly captures the wide swath of territory to which it originally referred: the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, which are distinct, contrasting, and yet interconnected regions, allowing frequent misunderstanding of cultural, ethical, and religious beliefs.

So ultimately, the term ‘exotic’ dehumanizes the Eastern or Arab identity into one that is fetishized and rather disturbing. Depictions like that are most certainly seen in the Film industry. You may recognize the story of Aladdin, the beloved historical folk tale of Arab culture and land. We delved into the story of Aladdin and more in a previous article. But several other examples of the modern-day pop-up may even make us Arab Americans laugh!

In addition, Edward Said argued that a long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia and the Middle East in Western culture had served as an implicit justification for Europe’s and America’s colonial and imperial ambitions. Orientalist paintings, for example, depicted the “exotic” and therefore racialized, feminized, and often sexualized culture from a distant land. In addition, this form of art was considered as a document, an authentic glimpse of a location and its inhabitants, to convince audiences by carefully mimicking a preexisting Oriental reality.

Critiques of The Concept of Orientalism

Critics of Said have long argued that Orientalism can be reversed and made to benefit people in the East, Arabs alike. Often describe a type of ‘bad Orientalism’ and ‘good Orientalism.’ Roger Owen of the Middle East Institute published an article in which he views two important critiques of why Orientalism is a more colonial term than one that relates to a more modern view of the world that does not include race and empiricism. He quotes persons like anthropologist Talal Asad. More seriously, the argument attacks on Said also make it more difficult to sustain an attack on Orientalists’ role in authorizing certain aspects not only of American military and security policy but those of Israel as well. For all the books that castigate the malign influence of the State Department Arabists, none to my knowledge point to the policy impact of Israeli Orientalists as well as to the fact that, even in Israeli terms, their close association with the country’s defense establishment has been counter-productive to what might be described as the country’s national interests. Think of expert authorities like Gabriel Baer, who assured me, in the mid-1970s, that Egypt would never make peace with Israel. Think of those who created and managed the Palestinian “village leagues.” Think of those who supported policies to encourage Hamas during the first Intifada. Think of those who argued that the Shi’a population could be lured into playing an anti-PLO, anti-Syrian role in South Lebanon.

The Issue of the United States and the East

After September 11, 2001, the Bush administration reacted with a kind of Orientalist frenzy, heralding the liberation of Muslim women among its reasons for the invasion of Afghanistan and applying the insights of torture and unforgettable agony tactics employed at Abu Ghraib. Bernard Lewis was invited to pontificate on the “roots of Muslim rage” in The Atlantic, journalists traveled to the West Bank to investigate the fury of Palestinian suicide bombers, and no subject evoked so much compassionate concern as the need to emancipate Muslim women from their violent, irrational, domineering men, an orientalist cliché.

Under President Obama, the grip of Orientalism appeared to relax. Obama made it clear, at first, that he did not intend to dictate to, but to cooperate with the Arab-Islamic world, and he made welcome gestures toward Iran and the ending of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Then came the Arab winter, the Orientalism of rigid and immutable difference helped restore old regimes and ways of government.

Under President Trump, the human face of Orientalism has all but vanished. This might sound like a good thing, insofar as it is a defeat for hypocrisy. But it’s also something else, something much darker. There was a triggered fear and hatred of Islam and Muslims that Trump had made mainstream and effectively turned into policy, the Muslim travel ban being only the most flagrant example. Orientalism in the age of Trump has no interest in promoting democracy or other “Western values” because these values are no longer believed, or they are regarded as an inconvenient obstacle to the exercise of power. This new Orientalism speaks in the language of deals and, more often, that of force and repression. It keeps Arab despots in power and angry young men of Arab origin in prison.

Check out this video by AJ+ explaining why Arabs are not ‘Exotic’:

Check out this video by AJ+ explaining why Arabs are not ‘Exotic’:

Although ‘Orientalism’ seems to be a modern piece of history that is still relevant today, it has failed to really depict human experience and especially one that is unique in the United States, and elsewhere. Think back to the coffee shop worker who would think a woman in Hijab seemed exotic. If that coffee shop employee experienced a mix of cultures, as well as a more international environment, then perhaps the mindset would have been different.

Check out our Blog!

Sources:

https://www.mei.edu/publications/edward-said-and-two-critiques-orientalism

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/08/2013823182256649433.html

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1xxs1s.6?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/05/20/orientalism-then-and-now/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exotic

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1990/09/the-roots-of-muslim-rage/304643/

Introduction: Arab stereotyping has been going on for centuries, transitioning from ‘tribal’, to ‘barbaric’, ‘exotic’, and ‘terrorists’ (post 9/11). Arab America Contributing Writer, Noureldin Mohamed, analyzes the issue of identifying Arabs as ‘exotic’ and the concept behind identity in Western/East relations known as Orientalism, and its critiques in relation to modern day.

Edited by Yasmina Hage on July 20