“Authenticity” is the essence of a primeval notion that is firmly rooted in its existing culture. However, new cultural expansions may also obtain the polish of authenticity in due course of time. This phenomenon is referred to as “emergent authenticity.” Based on this modification, the paper would establish the thesis that commoditization does not essentially obliterate the significance of cultural yields, although it may modify it or attach a renewed sense to existing ones.
“Tourism is said to lead to ‘commoditization’… within the domain of economic relations regulated by criteria of market exchange.”(Cohen, 372) Local traditions usually serve as the primary illustrations of such commoditization. Specifically, attractive local attires and mores, customs and banquets, and folk and cultural artefacts become tourist products, as they are presented or yielded to attract tourist attention.
MacCannell (1973) argues that commoditization hampers the authenticity of local ethnic commodities and hinders human associations. It leads to a substituted, concealed and “staged authenticity”. However, a different school of thought proposes that “authenticity” is a concept established in a social context and its social implication, in contrast to the philosophical connotation, is consequently not explicit, but “negotiable.” The comportment of the negotiation and its implications thus has a major significance in the sociological and anthropological aspect of tourism.
Given that authenticity is not a primitive assumption and is negotiable, it is important to appreciate the possibility of continuing emergence of authenticity of local cultural traits of artefacts from the perspective of the visitor. The cultural aspects, which might not have a definitive authentic value at one point of time, may be intermixed in the culture and gain the status of authenticity. “Emergent authenticity” emphasizes an aspect of broader occurrence of “invention of tradition”. One such example may be found in the American Disneyland, which was once viewed as the superlative illustration of artificial commercial entertainment, gradually came to exist as a vital symbol of modern American way of life. It should also be noted that the new, “external public”, in the form of the tourists, may present an opening to the manufacturers of cultural commodities to integrate fresh but “authentic” messages in them, which differ from those included in cultural artefacts intended for the target market formed by the local or ethnic population. These messages consequently emerged as new cultural lexis. Soon, these became standardized as “authentic” even by specialists.
Laurie Kroshus Medina of the Michigan State University, in the paper “COMMODITIZING CULTURE: Tourism and Maya Identity” investigates how the commoditization of traditions as a response to tourism influenced customary practices in a previously predominant Maya rural community neighbouring to the frequently visited Mayan ruins in Belize. The article reveals that although most of the villagers had discarded the Mayan identity, they reacted to the tourist insistence for symbolizations of an authentic Mayan culture by exploiting innovative means to revive customs they could no longer acquire through conventional methods. “They turned to the publications of archaeologists and epigraphers who study the ancient Maya” (Medina, 353). Although this approach is somewhat criticized by ethnic groups it has successfully led to the commoditization of Mayan culture and artefacts. It is argued by the author that this is not an illustration of “emergent authenticity” per se as it is a cases of revival of old traditions by unconventional means. However, given the negotiable traits of authenticity and owing to the doubts of complete authenticity the current scheme of things may evolve as authentic representation of Mayan culture in the eyes of the tourist, which leads to the notion of “emergent authenticity”.
Marvin Chodas in a case study of the Elizabeth Hickox and Karuk Basketry deals with the modernization paradigm and authenticity issues related to original Native American artefacts. “In the process of industrializing production, notions of authenticity … mass-produced commodities associated with the labouring classes” (Cohodas, 146). The author ascertains that authenticity, which involves a connection between ‘individuation’ and ‘innovation’, continues to be a subject of debate among aboriginal Americans in addition to anthropologists and people studying the evolution of art. Emergent authenticity in this case could have serious political and economic implications as it involves many Euro-American dynamics of curio trade.
Thus, in conclusion, it can be stated that Emergent Authenticity and commoditization are inherently linked with various aspects of tourism and have a considerable economic, political, sociological and philosophical impact on cultures and societies. In some sense, emergent authenticity has the potential of representing modern cultural existence in the times to come.
Works Cited
Cohen, Erik. “Authenticity and Commoditization in Tourism”. Annals of Tourism Research. 15, (1988): 371-386.
Cohodas, M. “Elizabeth Hickox and Karuk Basketry”. PDF File.
Medina, Laurie Kroshus. “COMMODITIZING CULTURE: Tourism and Maya Identity”. Annals of Tourism Research. 30.2, (2003): 353–368.