The Paradox of Authenticity in a Globalized World

Authenticity in our globalized world is a paradox. This collection examines how authenticity relates to cultural products, looking closely at how a particular "ethnic" food, or genre of popular music, or indigenous religious belief attains its aura of originality, when all traditional cultural products are invented in a certain time and place.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: The Artifice of Authenticity in the Age of Digital Reproduction; Russell Cobb PART I: A MATTER OF TASTE: AUTHENTICITY AND INNOVATION IN FOOD CULTURE 2. Searching for Authenticity: Cajun Food and a 'Golden Age" of Cajun History; Michael S. Martin 3. Food Bureaucracy: Pizza Authentication by the European Union; Rossella Ceccarini 4. Currying Flavour: Authenticity, Cultural Capital, and the Rise of Indian Food in the United Kingdom; Stephen A. Fielding PART II: PERFORMING THE REAL: MEDIATING AUTHENTICITY IN MUSIC, TELEVISION, AND PUBLISHING 5. Performing Cultural Authenticity in CBS's Good Times ; Nicola Mann 6. Buying into the Monastic Experience: Are Chant Recordings the Real Thing?; Amanda Haste 7. The Discourse of Authenticity in Yoga Journal ; Laura Christine Graham PART III: STEROTYPES, CLICHÉS, AND THE REAL THING: AUTHENTICITY IN CULTURAL CONTACT ZONES 8. From the Chrysanthemum Throne to the Porcelain Throne: Anglo-American Tourists and the Japanese Toilet; Gavin James Campbell 9. Tourists as Primitives? Inverting the Tourist Gaze in The Lost Steps by Alejo Carpentier; Jeannine M. Pitas 10. The Database as a Distressed Genre; John Venecek PART IV: CUT, PASTE, AUTHENTICATE: LITERARY STUDIES AND THE QUESTION OF AUTHENTICITY 11. 'There Is No Such Thing as Originality Anyway. . . ': Authorship in the Age of Digital Reproduction; Kaja Marczewska 12. Like in the Gringo Movies: Parodic Translation in Roberto Bolaño's 2666 ; Juan Meneses 13. Norman Mailer, Hipsters, and the Authenticity of the White Negro; Katharine Bausch 14. Authenticity as Currency in the Contemporary American Memoir; Katherine Edwards PART V: REAL POLITICS: THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF AUTHENTICITY 15. Beyond the Infinite Loop? Subjectivity in the Age of the Copy; James Block 16. Real Feminists and Fake Feminists: The Charge of Inauthenticity in Responses to Judith Butler; Kathryn Telling 17. Authenticity, Existentialism, and the American Exception of Rule 23; Michael Lopez 18. ThatOld School Lonsdale: Authenticity and Clothes in Streetpunk and Skinhead Culture; Aimar Ventsel

About the Author :
Michael S. Martin, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA Rossella Ceccarini, Sophia University, Japan Stephen A. Fielding, University of Victoria, Canada Nicola Mann, University of Rochester, USA Amanda Haste, Independent Scholar and Professional Musician Gavin James Campbell, Doshisha University, Japan John Venecek, University of Central Florida, USA Laura Christine Graham, University of Alberta, Canada Kaja Marczewska, Durham University, USA Juan Meneses, Purdue University, USA Katharine Bausch, York University, Canada Jeannine M. Pitas, University of Toronto, Canada Katherine Edwards, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada James Block, DePaul University, USA Kathryn Telling, University of Nottingham, UK Michael Lopez, University of North Dakota, USA Aimar Ventsel, University of Tartu, Estonia

Review :
'The idea of authenticity is an important one to explore in an academic setting and The Paradox of Authenticity in a Globalized World will be a useful tool in cultural and media studies, anthropology, and food studies. What really sets this edited volume apart is the inclusion of scholars who are not in academia - this adds a nice, contextualized angle in the fields of music, law, information studies, and museums.' - Jessica Mudry, Ryerson University, Canada