The dynamic interplay between structure, anastructure and antistructure in extraordinary experiences

Places as authentic consumption contexts

“…Consumers search for their authentic selves by escaping to places for activities like camping, hiking, or wilderness solitude (Wang, 1999). Consumers travel for religious pilgrimages specifically to have extraordinary experiences in places (Husemann et al, 2016). Participatory actions lead to a connection to the environment and a transformed sense of identity (Lynch, Duinker, Sheehan, & Chute, 2011).…”

“…In the alienated, heavily industrialized, and mechanized modern world, consumers romantically seek a purely “original” and unpolluted whole (Noy, ). For example, a print ad depicting a pristine beach in Fiji states: “Maybe you're all searching for happiness in the wrong places.” Furthermore, the pursuit of authenticity in places can be driven by a meaningful, existential desire, capable of endowing the consumer with a richer and fuller sense of being and identity, further shaped by accumulated experiences within places (Bardhi, Eckhardt, & Arnould, ; Husemann, Eckhardt, Grohs, & Saceanu, ). Consumers today can easily discover distant parts of the world, and in doing so, discover variations of their self in different contexts.…”

Consumer spirituality

“…Kedzior (2013), for example, studies the New Age pilgrimage experience of visiting the vortex energies in Sedona and highlights the conflict-laden, but important, role of materiality and commerce in accessing the spiritual. Husemann et al (2016) who study the pilgrimage experience in Medjugorje find, similar to Kedzior (2013), that pilgrims need to skilfully navigate marketplace tensions that result from an over-commercialised religious marketplace to experience spirituality. At the same time, however, they find that pilgrims draw on marketplace resources such as tour guides and smartphones to deepen their spiritual experience.…”

“…Kedzior (2013) argues that consumption can materialise spirituality which is in line with Moufahim's (2013) findings that show that '[t]he consumption of material objects appears to be integral to pilgrimage rituals and transforms the intangible spiritual experience of the pilgrims into something "palpable"' (p. 421). The three articles just summarised follow the call to direct attention to the significant interaction between religion, spirituality and consumption (Bonsu & Belk, 2010) as well as to further breakdown the binary position between spiritualty and materiality (Husemann et al, 2016). They do so by showing that consumers are not just using material objects to experience the spiritual, but that consumers need to use material objects in the 'right' way, which depends on faith, group belonging, and socio-cultural context.…”

“…Research on consumer spirituality, however, which studies how consumers engage with spiritual goods, services and places that are (more or less) purposefully designed to enhance consumers' spiritual well-being and actualise a spiritual experience, has just recently begun to spark interest among marketing scholars. This new body of research has explored the consumer experience of pilgrimage and the role of consumption practices, objects and markets in realising a spiritual experience (Higgins & Hamilton, 2016Husemann & Eckhardt, 2018;Husemann et al, 2016;Kedzior, 2013;Moufahim, 2013;Turley, 2013). Kedzior (2013), for example, studies the New Age pilgrimage experience of visiting the vortex energies in Sedona and highlights the conflict-laden, but important, role of materiality and commerce in accessing the spiritual.…”