‘“I changed my Olga for the Britney”: Occidentalism, Auto-Orientalism, and Global Fusion in Music’ Seminar

Is it possible to find an Eastern Occidentalism that works in a similar ideological manner, though from an inverted perspective, to Western Orientalism? I offer a brief critique of the ways in which Occidentalism has been interpreted, before selecting in support of my own arguments examples of music from countries with historical links to the Ottoman Empire, music that might be variously described as Occidentalist, auto-Orientalist, or global fusion. Auto-Orientalism implies knowingness, and occurs when the East throws back to the West a version of the image the West has already produced of the East. I want to revisit the idea that this is politically charged (as in Homi Bhabha’s formulation of the subaltern use of hybridity), and to understand what happens when cultural stereotypes appear to be embraced without apparent subversive intent. I also want to consider how we react to the complex sampling and mixing of styles by DJs, which attracts labels such as “global fusion” or “world beat.”