Fabricating Authenticity

Fabricating Authenticity expands on posts that originally appeared on the blog for Culture on the Edge — an international research collaborative that analyzes strategies of identification. The 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.

Following the format of the earlier volumes in the Working with Culture on the Edge series, the introduction provides a substantive, theoretical analysis on the discourse of authenticity. This provides a starting off point for each of the main chapters where contributors interrogate and critique the assumptions and argument of the introduction. Finally, the afterword draws the threads together. The result is a book that explores everyday examples that work as productive conversation-starters for those wanting to complicate and examine authenticity claims, making this an ideal volume for the introductory classroom and beyond.