Encounters with cultural difference: cosmopolitanism and exoticism in Tanna (Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, 2015) and Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra, 2015)

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dc.contributor.authorBerghahn, Daniela
dc.date.accessioned2018-05-10T10:47:32Z
dc.date.available2018-05-10T10:47:32Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractThis essay aims to critically reassess and, ultimately, rehabilitate exoticism, understood as a particular mode of cultural representation and a highly contested discourse on cultural difference, by bringing it into dialogue with cosmopolitanism. It offers a theoretical exploration of exoticism and cosmopolitanism alongside associated critical frameworks, such as the contact zone, autoethnography, authenticity and cultural translation, and brings them to bear on two awardwinning films that aptly illustrate a new type of exoticism in contemporary world cinema. Using Tanna (Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, 2015) and Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra, 2015), both made in collaboration with Indigenous communities, as case studies, this essay proposes that exoticism is inflected by cosmopolitan, rather than colonial and imperialist, sensibilities. It therefore differs profoundly from its precursors, which are premised on white supremacist assumptions about the Other which legitimised colonial expansion and the subjugation of the subaltern. By contrast, the new type of exoticism challenges and decentres Western values and systems of knowledge and aligns itself with the ethico-political agendas of cosmopolitanism, notably the promotion of crosscultural dialogue, an ecological awareness and the empowerment of hitherto marginalised communities.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationBerghahn, D. (2017) ‘Encounters with cultural difference: cosmopolitanism and exoticism in Tanna (Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, 2015) and Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra, 2015)’, Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 14, pp. 16–40. https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.14.01en
dc.identifier.doi10.33178/alpha.14.01
dc.identifier.endpage40
dc.identifier.issn2009-4078
dc.identifier.issued14
dc.identifier.journalabbrevAlphavilleen
dc.identifier.journaltitleAlphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Mediaen
dc.identifier.startpage16
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/6059
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherFilm and Screen Media, University College Corken
dc.relation.ispartofAlphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Mediaen
dc.relation.urihttps://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue14/HTML/ArticleBerghahn.html
dc.rights© 2017, The Author(s)en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectExoticismen
dc.subjectCultural representationen
dc.subjectCultural differenceen
dc.subjectCosmopolitanismen
dc.subjectContact zoneen
dc.subjectAutoethnographyen
dc.subjectAuthenticityen
dc.subjectCultural translationen
dc.subjectIndigenous communityen
dc.subjectWhite supremacisten
dc.subjectThe Otheren
dc.subjectColonial expansionen
dc.subjectSubjugationen
dc.subjectSubalternen
dc.subjectCrosscultural dialogueen
dc.subjectEmpowermenten
dc.titleEncounters with cultural difference: cosmopolitanism and exoticism in Tanna (Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, 2015) and Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra, 2015)en
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media. Issue 14: For a Cosmopolitan Cinema