Summary
Contents
`This book confirms David Harris' status as a leading theorist in contemporary culture and leisure in the UK. He offers a distinctive, coherent and authoritative guide to the major concepts and debates that should engage leisure scholars and scholarship' - Dr Peter Bramham, Senior Lecturer in Leisure Studies, Leeds Metropolitan UniversityWritten with the needs of today's student in mind, the SAGE Key Concepts series provides accessible, authoritative and reliable coverage of the essential issues in a range of disciplines. Written in each case by experienced and respected experts in the subject area, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages understanding without sacrificing the level of detail and critical evaluation essential to convey the complexity of the issues.Key Concepts in Leisure Studies:• Provides a student-friendly guide to the key debates in leisure studies• Reflects recent developments in the field, encompassing related work in media studies, cultural studies, sports studies and sociology • Cross-references each 1500 word exposition to other concepts in the field• Offers definitions, section outlines and further reading guidance for independent learning• Is supported by the author's website http:/www.arasite.org/keyconc.html• Is essential reading for undergraduates and NVQ students in leisure studies.
Authenticity
Authenticity
A state of preferred 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.
Section Outline:Authenticity as a central term in debates about the effects of tourism. The construction of authenticity in the media and in colonial anthropology: Australian aborigines. ‘Otherness’ and its paradoxical relation to the self.
In tourism studies, a considerable debate began after MacCannell (1989) stated that a major impulse for travel was a search for authenticity, the desire to encounter cultures and people that were not contaminated by industrial societies and their synthetic, commercialized mass cultures. MacCannell's views cannot be taken as support for the common distinction between cheap, ...
