Authenticity as a concept in tourism research

Abstract

This article discusses the uses of the concept of authenticity in tourism studies. In line with the constructivist perspective which aims to transcend the binary distinction between the authentic and inauthentic as found in the concept of authenticity, it is suggested that this binary dichotomy also has to be overcome in the approaches to the tourist role. If authenticity can be linked to an experience of collective identifications made by the individual, the point can be made that insights from studies of ritual and social performances will be fertile in analysing how such experiences are constituted in social processes. This processual approach may then reveal how authenticity is influenced by subjective and collective views on consensus, creativity and existentialism in the tourist role.

Current sociological theories and issues in tourism

“…Bruner, 2005a;E. Cohen, 2007), and split up into sub-discourses around the three types of authenticity discerned by Wang (1999;: "objective (object)" authenticity , "constructed" authenticity (E. Cohen, 1988;Olsen, 2002;Cook, 2010) and "subjective (existential)" authenticity (Cary, 2004;Cook 2010). The discourse of authenticity eventually fractured into a plethora of further sub-types, as in Knudsen and Waade"s (2010) edited volume, a collective effort to "re-invest" authenticity from a primarily performative approach.…”

Festivals, Events, and Tourism

“…MacCannell's theorization, however, was later criticized because it equates the authentic with some sort of pristine, 'original' state which becomes automatically destroyed upon contact with tourism (Bruner 1994). Researchers like Bruner (1994), Olsen (2002) and Shepherd (2002) have argued instead that authenticity is a socially constructed process and that the critical question is 'how do people themselves think about objects as authentic?' In this line of thinking, authenticity is no longer seen as a quality of the object but as a cultural value constantly created and reinvented in social processes (Olsen 2002).…”

Authentication: Hot and cool

“…However, the discussion failed to lead to a broad consensus, which would make authenticity the anchor of a general paradigm for the study of modern tourism, but instead resulted in diverse theoretical perspectives (Rickly-Boyd, 2012). The three types of authenticity distinguished by Wang (1999;2000), objective (object) authenticity (further discussed by Reisinger & Steiner, 2006;Lau, 2010), constructed authenticity (Cohen, 1988;Olsen, 2002) and existential (subjective) authenticity (Steiner & Reisinger, 2006a) are still engendering separate discourses, despite some efforts at bridging them (e.g. Rickly-Boyd, 2012).…”

“…In the wide-ranging discussion following MacCannell"s opening, the concept has been interpreted and re-interpreted in various ways with regard to such issues as the nature of authenticity, its construction and experience (e.g. Cohen, 1988;2007a;Crang, 1996;Olsen, 2002;Bruner, 2005;Reisinger & Steiner, 2006;Steiner & Reisinger, 2006a;Belhassen, Caton & Stewart, 2008;Buchmann, Moore, & Fisher, 2010;Knudsen & Waade, 2010;Lau, 2010;Rickly-Boyd, 2012). However, the discussion failed to lead to a broad consensus, which would make authenticity the anchor of a general paradigm for the study of modern tourism, but instead resulted in diverse theoretical perspectives (Rickly-Boyd, 2012).…”