Authenticity in North America

Authenticity in North America
Author: Jane Lovell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2019-11-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 042980234X

This interdisciplinary book addresses the highly relevant debates about authenticity in North America, providing a contemporary re-examination of American culture, tourism and commodification of place. Blending social sciences and humanities research skills, it formulates an examination of the geography of authenticity in North America, and brings together studies of both rurality and urbanity across the country, exposing the many commonalities of these different landscapes. Relph stated that nostalgic places are inauthentic, yet within this work several chapters explore how festivals and visitor attractions, which cultivate place heritage appeal, are authenticated by tourists and communities, creating a shared sense of belonging. In a world of hyperreal simulacra, post-truth and fake news, this book bucks the trend by demonstrating that authenticity can be found everywhere: in a mouthful of food, in a few bars of a Beach Boys song, in a statue of a troll, in a diffuse magical atmosphere, in the weirdness of the ungentrified streets. Written by a range of leading experts, this book offers a contemporary view of American authenticity, tourism, identity and culture. It will be of great interest to upper-level students, researchers and academics in Tourism, Geography, History, Cultural Studies, American Studies and Film Studies.

The Real Thing

The Real Thing
Author: Miles Orvell
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2014-08-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1469615371

In this classic study of the relationship between technology and culture, Miles Orvell demonstrates that the roots of contemporary popular culture reach back to the Victorian era, when mechanical replications of familiar objects reigned supreme and realism dominated artistic representation. Reacting against this genteel culture of imitation, a number of artists and intellectuals at the turn of the century were inspired by the machine to create more authentic works of art that were themselves "real things." The resulting tension between a culture of imitation and a culture of authenticity, argues Orvell, has become a defining category in our culture. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition includes a new preface by the author, looking back on the late twentieth century and assessing tensions between imitation and authenticity in the context of our digital age. Considering material culture, photography, and literature, the book touches on influential figures such as writers Walt Whitman, Henry James, John Dos Passos, and James Agee; photographers Alfred Stieglitz, Walker Evans, and Margaret Bourke-White; and architect-designers Gustav Stickley and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Authentic Fakes

Authentic Fakes
Author: David Chidester
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2005-04-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780520938243

Authentic Fakes explores the religious dimensions of American popular culture in unexpected places: baseball, the Human Genome Project, Coca-Cola, rock 'n' roll, the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan, the charisma of Jim Jones, Tupperware, and the free market, to name a few. Chidester travels through the cultural landscape and discovers the role that fakery—in the guise of frauds, charlatans, inventions, and simulations—plays in creating religious experience. His book is at once an incisive analysis of the relationship between religion and popular culture and a celebration of the myriad ways in which invention can stimulate the religious imagination. Moving beyond American borders, Chidester considers the religion of McDonald’s and Disney, the discourse of W.E.B. Du Bois and the American movement in Southern Africa, the messianic promise of Nelson Mandela’s 1990 tour to America, and more. He also looks at the creative possibilities of the Internet in such phenomena as Discordianism, the Holy Order of the Cheeseburger, and a range of similar inventions. Arguing throughout that religious fakes can do authentic religious work, and that American popular culture is the space of that creative labor, Chidester looks toward a future "pregnant with the possibilities of new kinds of authenticity."

Native Authenticity

Native Authenticity
Author: Deborah L. Madsen
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1438431694

A survey of current critical perspectives on how North American indigenous peoples are viewed and represented transnationally.

True West

True West
Author: William R. Handley
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2007-05-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780803259768

In no other region of the United States has the notion of authenticity played such an important yet elusive role as it has in the West. Though pervasive in literature,øpopular culture, and history, assumptions about western authenticity have not received adequate critical attention. Given the ongoing economic and social transformations in this vast region, the persistent nostalgia and desire for the ?real? authentic West suggest regional and national identities at odds with themselves. True West explores the concept of authenticity as it is used to invent, test, advertise, and read the West. The fifteen essays collected here apply contemporary critical and cultural theory to western literary history, Native American literature and identities, the visual West, and the imagining of place. Ranging geographically from the Canadian Prairies to Buena Park?s Entertainment Corridor in Southern California, and chronologically from early tourist narratives to contemporary environmental writing, True West challenges many assumptions we make about western writing and opens the door to an important new chapter in western literary history and cultural criticism.

Debating Authenticity

Debating Authenticity
Author: Thomas Fillitz
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2012-12-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0857454978

The longing for authenticity, on an individual or collective level, connects the search for external expressions to internal orientations. What is largely referred to as production of authenticity is a reformulation of cultural values and norms within the ongoing process of modernity, impacted by globalization and contemporary transnational cultural flows. This collection interrogates the notion of authenticity from an anthropological point of view and considers authenticity in terms of how meaning is produced in and through discourses about authenticity. Incorporating case studies from four continents, the topics reach from art and colonialism to exoticism-primitivism, film, ritual and wilderness. Some contributors emphasise the dichotomy between the academic use of the term and the one deployed in public spaces and political projects. All, however, consider authenticity as something that can only be understood ethnographically, and not as a simple characteristic or category used to distinguish some behaviors, experiences or material things from other less authentic versions.

Paradoxes of Authenticity

Paradoxes of Authenticity
Author: Julia Straub
Publisher: transcript Verlag
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2014-03-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3839418194

Authenticity is one of the most crucial, but also most contested concepts in literary and cultural studies. Hollowed out by postmodernist theory, it paradoxically enough persists as an important backdrop for the discussion of literature, film, and the visual arts. The essays in this volume explore perspectives on authenticity and case studies dealing with »the authentic«. They thereby seek to show how the paradoxical persistence of authenticity in contemporary critical discourse can be turned into a fruitful point of departure for an analysis of literary texts, but also films, and the visual arts.

Resilience, Authenticity and Digital Heritage Tourism

Resilience, Authenticity and Digital Heritage Tourism
Author: Deepak Chhabra
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2021-09-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000413020

This book examines the authentication of authenticity in heritage tourism by using a resilient smart systems approach. It discusses the emerging trends in cultural tourism and outlines, in a detailed manner, their significance in negotiating authenticity in tourism experience. Authentication of authenticity is an evolving, less-researched field of inquiry in heritage tourism. This book advances research on this subject by exploring different authentication processes and scrutinizes their resilience in building transformative heritage tourism pathways. It offers a kaleidoscopic view of the manner authenticity has evolved over the last several decades by observing a broad spectrum of cultural expressions. The evolution and meaningfulness of negotiated authenticity is identified and discussed in the context of pre-, intra- and post-pandemic times. This book focuses on the moral and existentialist trajectories or authenticity and the notion of self-authentication. It proposes a smart resilient authentication model to delicately negotiate the objective and self-dimensions of authenticity in transformative times. Furthermore, by sharing examples of best practices, it offers unique insights on how authenticity is authenticated and mediated via digital platforms and artificial intelligence. This book offers novel perspectives on negotiated authenticity and its authentication in heritage tourism and will appeal to both practitioners and students/scholars in Heritage studies; Design and Innovation; Tourism Studies; Geography and Planning across North America, Europe, and East-Asian countries.

Wired for Authenticity

Wired for Authenticity
Author: Henna Inam
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2015-05-07
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1491765720

Discover how to lead with authenticity and agility in a fast-changing world! “Wired for Authenticity is the definitive guide to your journey of self-awareness. Along the way, you will meet the colorful cast of characters that inhabit and inhibit you, and you will develop the skills you need to recognize, confront, and influence outcomes. Henna Inam’s vulnerable and irreverent style will enable you to unleash your inner authentic self.” —Alex Wellen, chief product officer, CNN “In Wired for Authenticity, Henna Inam reintroduces us to our original nature and offers practices to bring that authentic person to life! When our true selves show up to work, we can better connect with our teams, colleagues, family, and friends. Even more powerful, we give those around us permission to do the same. It is contagious!” —Kathleen Ciaramello, president, National Food Service and On-Premise, Coca-Cola Refreshments Leadership today is more challenging than ever. Trends including the rapid pace of change, constant restructuring, and a 24/7, always-on work environment are creating overwhelmed employees and eroding trust in workplaces. Organizations need leaders who drive engagement, innovation, and outstanding client experiences. How can you be this type of leader? Henna Inam shares proven strategies based on neuroscience research and her work as an executive coach and speaker, with clients who are executives in Fortune 500 companies. The practical tools she shares in this book have worked for her clients and can help you • practice a new model of authenticity to be more trusted and agile and less overwhelmed; • experience greater success and fulfillment in your leadership, workplace, and life; • engage and innfluence clients, peers, and bosses more powerfully; and • lead team members with more inspiration and ease.

Who Owns Culture?

Who Owns Culture?
Author: Susan Scafidi
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2005
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780813536064

It is not uncommon for white suburban youths to perform rap music, for New York fashion designers to ransack the world's closets for inspiration, or for Euro-American authors to adopt the voice of a geisha or shaman. But who really owns these art forms? Is it the community in which they were originally generated, or the culture that has absorbed them? While claims of authenticity or quality may prompt some consumers to seek cultural products at their source, the communities of origin are generally unable to exclude copyists through legal action. Like other works of unincorporated group authorship, cultural products lack protection under our system of intellectual property law. But is this legal vacuum an injustice, the lifeblood of American culture, a historical oversight, a result of administrative incapacity, or all of the above? Who Owns Culture? offers the first comprehensive analysis of cultural authorship and appropriation within American law. From indigenous art to Linux, Susan Scafidi takes the reader on a tour of the no-man's-land between law and culture, pausing to ask: What prompts us to offer legal protection to works of literature, but not folklore? What does it mean for a creation to belong to a community, especially a diffuse or fractured one? And is our national culture the product of Yankee ingenuity or cultural kleptomania? Providing new insights to communal authorship, cultural appropriation, intellectual property law, and the formation of American culture, this innovative and accessible guide greatly enriches future legal understanding of cultural production.