The term ‘authenticity’ can be used to describe a thing, including heritage objects, an experience, or a person. In all instances the term conjures up notions of originality, truth and sincerity, or a quality of being real as opposed to being fake. For example, we can speak about ‘an authentic tourist experience’ or about ‘the authentic self’ or ‘an authentic painting’. The notion of ‘authenticity’ has had a long history within the social sciences and humanities and is still commonly used in everyday life. Earlier definitions of authenticity eschewed ideas of commodification, placing greater emphasis on ideas of tradition. An object, for example an artefact in a museum, was deemed authentic if it was made by a traditional artist to serve a traditional function. Objects made for the consumer or tourist were deemed inauthentic. Such definitions have however come under significant criticism in recent years with some critics pointing out the socially-constructed nature of authenticity. Authenticity, in this sense, is negotiable. Such criticisms have led to the development of new ways of thinking about what is authentic, giving rise to terms such as ‘staged authenticity’, used, for example, to describe touristic experiences of particular cultural practices.
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Upcoming events
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- The Summer School will be held in Zlarin, Croatia, on September 20-24, 2024
We are pleased to announce the Call for Applications for the IN SITU project Summer School “Place-based creative solutions for cultivating caring and sustainable communities”, to be held in the island of Zlarin, Croatia, on 20-24 September 2024. IN … Continue reading →
- Hosted by Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia in June 2024
SECreTOUR is an Horizon Europe project about cultural tourism, to drive sustainable cultural tourism by empowering local communities, shaping a Fair, Creative, and Sustainable Tourism approach, and testing diverse European pilot cases to foster fair development, community engagement, and policy … Continue reading →