Authenticity and Identity: Lifestyle Experiences

1. Authenticity and Identity: Lifestyle Experiences Dr Matt Frew

2. Lecture Format • Events: a philosophical problem? • Modernity, Authenticity & Events • Staged Authenticity and Postmodern Lifestyles • Experiential Events: navigating the ‘real’

3. Events: a philosophical problem? • Philosophy (Plato, Descartes, Hume, Kant to Hawking - our relationship with and understanding of the universe, the world, others and ourselves • Knowing, reasoning self: • Human becomes the centre of the universe • Human mastery of nature/scientific exploration Modernity: coincides with philosophical commitments to ‘truth’,‘rationality’, ‘rationalisation’ and ‘progress’: • Scientific analysis is the means by which the world will come to be known, and with ‘humanism’ - the centring of the human subject as the wellspring of knowledge and good.’ (Fox, 1993: 7)

4. Events: a philosophical problem? • Modernity – a social process usually associated with industrialisation and urbanisation (epochal) • Modernism –a set of ideas that emerged from the 17th C Enlightenment belief in progress and the irrecoverable power of rational thought to provide emancipation • Moving away from the restrictions of religion, custom and tradition, human reason would provide liberty from the pre-modern period, taming the natural through the application of rational tools of science • Whatever the nomenclature, the epochal changes wrought by the clash of intellectual discourse and material change is worth exploring in relation to how events and the experiences of events is understood

5. Modernity, Authenticity & Events • Modernity: out of chaos: order, design, structure - creating meaning/identity. The fight against ambivalence, indeterminacy, and undecidibility (Bauman, 1992) • Liberating the self: • Sorting and dominating the materiality of ‘nature’ and its inhabitants • Techno centric; science/positivism/teleology – improved techniques of governance • Demarcate human from land, rural/urban or city/country differentiation • Brave new world: free of want, scarcity, pestilence and famine (Enlightenment progress) • Identity/meaning creation: And man said ‘Let there be…and there was…’: civilizing the noble savage • Culture (events) reflections of liberation, civilisation and progress

6. Modernity, Authenticity & Events • Authenticity: a modernist concept associated with ‘truth’, ‘depth’ and ‘reality’ – a fixed and stable entity; provides a rootedness • Refers to a state of ‘existence usually contrasted with the falseness and artificiality of modern life. The production of objects, actions and experiences are uncontaminated with commercial motives. Authentic locations are contrasted with commercialized tourist and leisure sites’ (Harris, 2005: 24) • Links to: • a philosophical quest for ‘deep meaning’ • concept of freedom

7. Modernity, Authenticity & Events • Authentic experiences set in motion a search for the undiscovered, unique and pure • The ‘aura’ (Benjamin, 1936) of events - ‘I was there’ landmark experiences sought (Woodstock or Glastonbury; Queen/Live Aid or Oasis/Kenbworth; Rumble in Jungle or Munich Olympics) • This is becoming increasingly difficult– only variations on a theme remain • The search for ‘authenticity’ is now pre-packaged and sold at a premium • Now distinguish between objective, personal and constructed authenticity (Jamal and Hill, 2002)

8. Staged Authenticity and Postmodern Lifestyles • Staged authenticity - concept pioneered by MacCannell (1976) the replication and packaging of past cultural ‘events, epochs, or ways of life’ (Taylor, 2001: 33) events packaged for touristic consumption • Taps into the nostalgia and romantacism of past life and experiences ‘Not every component of the experience need be authentic (or even satisfactory) so long as the combination of elements generates the required nostalgic feeling.’ (Chhabra, et al, 2005: 705) • The staged or replicated reconstruction fulfills a present need for a sense of belonging, solidarity or rooted identity ‘In the case of events, authenticity is linked to the reproduction of rituals and cultural traits as genuinely and accurately as possible to the original form’ (McCartney and Osti, (2007: 28)

9. Staged Authenticity and Postmodern Lifestyles • Comfort in the staging points of the construction of postmodern lifestyles • Postmodernism - ‘refers to the cultural and intellectual phenomena, to the production, consumption and distribution of symbolic goods…the forsaking of foundationalism…the blurring of boundries between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture; the collapse of hierarchies of knowledge, taste and opinion’ (Lyon, 1999: 10) • Lifestyle Identities - the fluid construction of identity mapped around consumer behaviour and meanings, which provides a ‘modern form of status grouping’ (Chaney, 1996: 14) • Events - feed experiences of postmodern pastiche of meanings that provide comfort of rooted connection whilst individualised distance

10. Experiential Events: navigating the ‘real’ • All cultures are reinvented, reorganised and retold (Crick, 1989) or packaged and mythologized (Quinn, 2003) - we ‘always experience a distorted past…a dynamic [re]presentation of current values and beliefs (Muller and Pettersson, 2006: 56) • Places and Events of Postmodern Pastiche - (e.g. Disneyworld (Paris/Florida), Terra Mitica (Spain), Battle of Gettysburg, USA) • Potential of staging authenticity in events needs to be tempered: ‘Commoditisation occurs when community activities are altered to meet the needs and expectations of tourists, thus eroding the integrity, authenticity and traditional value of the culture’ (Dimmock and Tiyce: 2001: 368)

11. Experiential Events: navigating the ‘real’ • Suffocating locality or reinvigorating culture - • issues of heritage erosion/real OR renews tradition and instills pride • Protect cultural past where ‘emergent authenticity’ allows ‘real’ (for insider) and ‘invented’ (for outsider) live side by side OR Brigadoon effect • Replicate the replica? - Oktoberfest, Memorial Stadium, Charlotte, US) Flora McDonald Scottish Highland Games, North Carolina, US) • Problem/Potential with ‘Real’: • More about authorized than authentic readings - who decides? • the staged authenticity produces its own ‘aura’ possibilities to enchant postmodern lifestyles ‘Festival is an arena where indigenous heritage is displayed, tested, contested and re-negotiated’ (Muller and Pettersson, 2006: 67)