Reconceptualizing object authenticity

Conceptual research in tourism

“…This reconceptualisation (theme 12) of authenticity reflects a constructivist perspective (see earlier epistemological section) as it claims that existential authenticity is divorced from any inherent quality of the toured objects or cultures, a point which had been made previously by Bruner (1994) who claimed that authenticity should no longer be seen as a "property inherent in an object" (p. 408). Wang' s reconceptualisation of authenticity has spawned a plethora of further debate and reconceptualisations of the concept including that by Reisinger and Steiner (2006) who argue that for many tourists authenticity is irrelevant as they do not value it, are suspicious of it, or are "complicit in its cynical construction for commercial purposes" (p.66).…”

“…They then propose a novel third model resulting from the comparison. Similarly Reisinger and Steiner (2006) argue for the reconceptualisation of the concept of interpretation by adopting the philosophy of Heidegger and promoting the underlying ideas of authenticity and tourism experiences.…”

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).…”

Farming and tourism enterprise: Experiential authenticity in the diversification of independent small-scale family farming

“…Indeed, Steiner and Reisinger (2006), Reisinger and Steiner (2006), and earlier Bruner (1991), even suggest abandoning the concept of object authenticity altogether as it has proven to be impossible to agree on meanings, although Lau (2010) in contrast suggests conceptualising authenticity solely as object authenticity, thereby delinking the concept from tourist experiences. However, consistent with the views of Bruner, Reisinger, Steiner, Wang and Selwyn, this paper focuses on the more existential forms of authenticity rather than on object authenticity.…”