Negotiating Authentic Objects and Authentic Selves

Abstract

Abstract:Our understanding of authenticity in the material world is characterised by a problematic dichotomy between materialist and constructivist perspectives. Neither explains why people find the issue of authenticity so compelling, nor how it is experienced and negotiated in practice. There is strong evidence supporting the view that prevailing materialist approaches to authenticity are a product of the development of modernity in the West. The result has been an emphasis on entities and their origins and essences. However, when we look at how people experience and negotiate authenticity through objects, it is the networks of relationships between people, places and things which appear to be central, not the things in themselves. I argue that these inalienable relationships between objects, people and places underpin the ineffable, almost magical, power of authenticity, and explain why people employ it as a means to negotiate their place in a world characterised by displacement and fragmentation. I illustrate this by drawing on ethnographic research surrounding the Hilton of Cadboll crossslab.Keywords: authenticity, heritage, conservation, identity, place, modernity.Broadly speaking, authenticity refers to the quality of being authentic, that is, real, original, truthful, or genuine; 'really proceeding from its stated source' (Oxford English Dictionary 2002: 153). It plays a significant part in many spheres of cultural practice and various aspects of our lives. Not least of these is the historic environment, where authenticity haunts the practices of preservation, curation, management and presentation enacted on monuments, buildings, places and artefacts. Until recently, approaches to authenticity in heritage management and conservation have been characterised by an overwhelmingly materialist perspective. Authenticity is seen as an objective and measurable attribute inherent in the material fabric, form and function of artefacts and monuments, and a positivist set of research methods and criteria have evolved to test their genuineness. Furthermore, these approaches still lie at the heart of heritage conservation and management. In contrast, much recent academic writing outside of the heritage management and conservation sectors has been devoted to exploring the complexity of authenticity and its cultural construction (e.g. Bruner 2007; Gable and Handler 2007;Lowenthal 1992Lowenthal , 1995Handler 1986;Holtorf and Schadla-Hall 1999;Lindholm 2008; Smith 2006). One of the main thrusts of this diverse literature is that authenticity is not inherent in the object. Rather, it is a quality that is culturally constructed and varies according to who is observing the object and in what context. Objects, and indeed intangible dimensions of culture, become embedded in regimes of meaning and exchange, such as those framing heritage conservation and management (Handler and Gable 1997;Holtorf 2005;Phillips 1997), heritage tourism (Bruner 2005Stanley 1998), and the international art market (Errington 1988;Spooner 1986;Sylva...

3D heritage visualisation and the negotiation of authenticity: the ACCORD project

“…In this way digital visualisations embody networks of relations between objects, people and places, as Deger (2016, 128) has argued for 'thick photography'. These networks in turn are central to the production and negotiation of authenticity, whether in relation to material or digital objects (Jones 2010;Jones and Yarrow 2013;Macdonald 2013).…”

“…The importance of tangibility and touch was often underlined, resonating with recent research on authenticity (e.g. Holtorf 2013;Jones 2010Jones , 2016. As one participant put it, the original 'makes you want to touch it', whilst another emphasised that contact with the original offers a 'physical connection back to the people who make it', echoing Holtorf's (2013, 433) arguments about one of the key characteristics of 'pastness'.…”

“…Indeed, even recent research challenging essentialist notions of authenticity suggests that the specific biographies and materialities of historic objects are important in how people experience and negotiate authenticity (e.g. Holtorf 2013;Jones 2010 and. In particular, weathering and patina are significant elements in people's experience of authenticity (Douglas-Jones et al 2016).…”

“…In terms of the experience of authenticity, aging, patina and material decay are also important, creating a diffuse sense of 'pastness' (Holtorf 2013;Douglas-Jones et al 2016). Finally, ethnographic research reveals that authenticity is produced and negotiated through networks of relationships between people, places and things (Dicks 2000;Jones 2010;Jones and Yarrow 2013;Macdonald 2013).…”

La espada de la independencia: agencia de los objetos, materialidad y recursos políticos en el proceso de patrimonialización entre los Mapoyo (Venezuela)

“…De acuerdo con Sahlins (1994) en esto también tenemos que tener en cuenta la agencia de individuos determinados, que en coyunturas específicas gestionan poder simbólico, basado en el reconocimiento de la diferencia o en la coexistencia pactada (STRAVAKAKIS, 1999). No obstante, no son únicamente las personas que determinan los avatares de "lo social", sino que como una profusa literatura arqueológica y antropológica indica -y el presente caso de estudio concuerda plenamente -también los objetos deben ser vistos como practicantes de un rol activo en la condición patrimonial (HODDER, 2014;JONES, 2010;LATOUR, 2005).…”