Touristic quest for existential authenticity Academic Article

abstract

• This study examines the experience of repeat tourists who participate actively in a Renaissance festival, from indepth interviews and participant observation over two consecutive years. Results contradict the general view of such commercial attractions as merely "spectacle" or "inauthentic". The notion of existential authenticity is central to understanding the experience of regular, repeat festival-goers who take their participation seriously. This committed action is a means of attaining heightened bodily feelings, expressing, regaining, or reconstructing a sense of desired self, and developing authentic intersubjective relationships. The study supports the existential notion in terms of intrapersonal and interpersonal authenticity. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

authors

• Jamal, Tazim

published proceedings

• ANNALS OF TOURISM RESEARCH

author list (cited authors)

• Kim, H., & Jamal, T.

citation count

• 352

complete list of authors

• Kim, Hyounggon||Jamal, Tazim

publication date

• January 2007

publisher

• Elsevier  Publisher

published in

• Annals of Tourism Research  Journal

keywords

• Communitas
• Existential Authenticity
• Medieval Festival
• Self-making

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1016/j.annals.2006.07.009

start page

• 181

end page

• 201

volume

• 34

issue

• 1

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006.07.009