Fabricating Authenticity: (Working with Culture on the Edge)

Fabricating Authenticity expands on revised posts that originally appeared on the blog for Culture on the Edge - an international research collaborative that analyzes strategies of identification. The newly envisioned main chapters in this volume draw on a variety of sites, topics, and case studies to explore what is at stake in claims of authenticity. Here, authenticity is examined as a socially contested and constructed label that is used to manage and codify a variety of choices in relation to understandings of identity formation. Building on the main chapters, Fabricating Authenticity is a collaborative enterprise that engages early career scholars to respond, critique, and press further the approaches and arguments put forth by members of Culture on the Edge. Following the format of the earlier volumes in the Working with Culture on the Edge series, the introduction and afterword provide a more substantive, theoretical analysis on the discourse of authenticity. Together with the main chapters and responses, Fabricating Authenticity explores everyday examples that work as productive conversation-starters for those wanting to complicate and examine authenticity claims, thus making this an ideal volume for the introductory classroom and beyond.

Table of Contents:
Preface Jason Ellsworth and Andie Alexander Introduction: Commodifying Authenticity Jason Ellsworth and Andie Alexander 1. Is There Lettuce in Greek Salad? Russell T. McCutcheon, University of Alabama 2. Beyond Authenticity? Ian Alexander Cuthbertson, Dawson College 3. Marketing the Authentic Taco Jason Ellsworth 4. A Remembrance of Dishes Past Rachel D. Brown, University of Victoria 5. Because YOU’RE an Early Adopter (and I’M NOT): Commodity Fetishism and Identification Christopher R. Cotter, The Open University 6. Fool’s Gold: Tapping into Luxury Ping-hsiu Alice Lin, Chinese University of Hong Kong 7. “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline” Tara Baldrick-Morrone, Florida State University 8. Satisfaction Not Guaranteed: COVID-19, Higher Ed, and the Politics of “Experience” Sierra L. Lawson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 9. A Man, A Tan, “God’s Plan” Richard Newton, University of Alabama 10. Just in It for a Paycheck?: On Philanthrocapitalism, Petro-States, and Paid Protesters Stacie Swain, University of Victoria 11. On the Tyranny of Individualism: MAGA Boy, Media, and the Drum Matt Sheedy, University of Bonn 12. Symbols and Ownership Yasmine Flodin-Ali, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 13. Donald Trump: A “Baby Christian”? Leslie Dorrough Smith, Avila University 14. An Orbiter Is a Simp, a Foid Is a Foid Nevada S. Drollinger-Smith, Arizona State University 15. Naming Things Steven Ramey, University of Alabama 16. While Whitey’s on the Moon Annie Rose O’Brien, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 17. In Their Own Terms Vaia Touna, University of Alabama 18. Laurel, Mississippi, in Its Own Terms (kind of) Marshall A. Cunningham, University of Chicago 19. “A Good Fake or a Bad Fake?” Andie Alexander 20. Pay Attention!: Media, Performance, and Discourses on Authenticity Daniel Jones 21. Do People Misunderstand Their Own Religion? Craig Martin, St Thomas Aquinas College 22. But is It Really Religion? Savannah H. Finver, Ohio State University 23. If It’s Not Authentic, It’s Not a Religion Teemu Taira, Univesity of Helsinki 24. Rebranding Religion: Authenticity, Representation, and the Marketplace Zabeen Khamisa, Wilfrid Laurier University-University of Waterloo 25. Is There Neo-Nazi DNA? Ancestry Tests and Biological Essentialism in American Racism Martha Smith, Fullerton College 26. Making Sense of a Sense of Self Israel L. Domínguez, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27. The Moves We Make K. Merinda Simmons, University of Alabama 28. Trans* Muslims and Jessica Krug: Analyzing the Discursive Power of Authenticity Hinasahar Muneeruddin, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Afterword: A Little Heritage Goes a Long Way Andie Alexander and Jason Ellsworth

About the Author :
Jason W. M. Ellsworth is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology and Social Anthropology Department at Dalhousie University. He currently works at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Prince Edward Island and serves on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Anthropology Society. His research explores a diverse array of topics including the Anthropology and Sociology of Religion, Buddhism in North America, Food and Food Movements, Theories of Value, Political Economy, Marketing, Transnationalism, and Orientalism. Andie Alexander is a doctoral candidate in the Institute for the Study of Religion at Leibniz University Hannover. She is co-editor (with Jason W. M. Ellsworth) of Fabricating Authenticity (Equinox, 2024) and is Managing Editor of The Religious Studies Project. Her research focuses on identity construction, discourses of difference and experience, and conceptions of the individual as a way to examine how post-9/11 discourses of inclusivity and pluralism implicitly work as a form of governance and subject-making which construct and constrain the liberal Muslim subject.