Situating itself at the interface between critical theory and cultural studies, this article addresses the theoretical problem of the relationship between mimicry and mimesis, two terms which are often seen as being virtually interchangeable but which may, as I shall argue here, have different cultural functions. Its point of departure, however, is the so-called cultural studies project, whose twin imperatives are, first, to redefine culture not as the privileged domain of an intellectual elite but as an arena for the everyday practices of conflicting social groups; and, second, to turn the exoticist gaze of anthropology back on the viewer, recognizing in the process that the study of culture might best begin at home.