Notions Of Authenticity Research Articles

Tourism marketing, ileity and the construction of a real ideality

AbstractThis study delves into the realm of island marketing, challenging prevailing assumptions held by potential mainland and urban tourists. It adopts a critical approach aimed at unraveling the motivations and expectations of these tourists in relation to island destinations, exploring the conflictual connections between the implicit beliefs in insularity and islandness. The study refutes simplistic stereotypes that often dominate insular tourism marketing, which abstractly portrays tropical islands as paradises of happiness and tranquility. The research identifies several values and benefits that significantly impact the motivation of island tourists, while recognizing the uniqueness of islands as tourist destinations. These include the allure of the sea and beaches as sources of leisure and well-being, the distinctiveness of island communities marked by authenticity and ancestral isolation, the promise of adventure in unfamiliar spaces, emotional involvement through personal spontaneity and freedom, and the opportunity to connect with preserved nature. For many small islands, tourism serves as a crucial economic resource, and their promotion centers around the idea of paradise and escape from the everyday routine—a concept referred to as “island desire” within a utopian context. The study also discusses the evolving role of communication technologies, the equivocal notion of authenticity, the significance of interculturality, and the contrasting perceptions of the sea for mainlanders and islanders. It emphasizes the need for island marketing professionals to draw from anthropological and epistemological insights to inform their creative communication strategies.

Bi for pay? On notions of authenticity and women’s ‘compulsory bisexuality’ in US adult video

ABSTRACT This article explores the vexed relationship between female bisexuality and adult video. Ubiquitous in mainstream ‘straight’ porn production (even as guy on guy content remains taboo), girl on girl scenes are often perceived as inauthentic by lesbian, bisexual, feminist, and queer scholars, critics, and spectators alike. The article asserts, however, that the phenomenon of women’s bisexuality in moving image pornography is more diverse and complex than it may appear. Comparing the omnipresence of actresses’ bisexual behaviour in mainstream adult media to alternative articulations of female bisexuality in lesbian/dyke and queer porn, the article recuperates a form of queer creative labour that tends to be dismissed due to its industrial context, and argues that girl on girl porn constitutes a viable ‘bisexual space’.

The Authentic Liar

AbstractAmong the people who have been hailed for being particularly authentic are notorious liars. But this seems like a contradiction. Can you be authentic if you lie about what you value, believe, or feel? This brief article explores this question and the unique stances on honesty that different notions of authenticity take.

Transgressive Russianness: Claiming authenticity in the Russian woman assemblage

The question of sociolinguistic authenticity has been widely researched with reference to authentic linguistic production and authentic language users. Globalization and intense language contacts have brought increased attention to the question of authenticity as it applies to what linguistic and cultural production is considered authentic and what facets of linguistic and cultural production are most salient to authenticity. The study examines the notion of authenticity in relation to the linguistic presentation of Russian womanhood by the Tajik-Russian singer Manizha in her song Russian woman . We aim to show how linguistic and cultural transgression underlying her performance prompted contestable interpretations and opened up the evaluative divide among the audience. Using Pennycook’s semiotics of transignification (Pennycook 2007), we analyze the performance at different levels (pretextual history, contextual relations, subtextual and intertextual meanings, and post-textual interpretations). We juxtapose the song, the singer’s post-performance interviews, and the viewers’ online comments in order to reveal the authenticating and deauthenticating discourses of gender and ethnicity. We have identified the opposing conceptions of Russian womanhood in the performance, both of which can be deemed authentic or inauthentic. We argue that authentication and deauthentication of this textual assemblage are driven by different ideologies and often depend on a single textual level or element. Moreover, authenticity may be recontextualized and renegotiated through discourse. The study highlights the co-existence of multiple and competing authenticies within a single multimodal performance and demonstrates how semiotics of transignification may be used to un-cover these competing ideological orientations.

Reimagining educational linguistics: a post-competence perspective

Abstract Drawing on Bernstein’s sociology of education, this article offers a critical discussion of the origins, assumptions and values of educational linguistics since its foundation in the 1970s. It argues that the sociohistorical context in which the field emerged led to its areas of focus and mission being based on a number of problematic assumptions originating in a primarily Anglophone, Chomskyan theory of language and learning; assumptions that have led to it promoting a strong ‘competence model’ (Bernstein’s term) of education ever since, thereby exacerbating the disconnect between applied linguist and language teacher communities. After identifying important changes in language learning contexts and characteristics worldwide since the 1970s, the article presents a framework for reimagining educational linguistics that looks beyond competence to also recognise the validity of both literacy and pluralist orientations to education and the need for systems, institutions, programs and teachers to move flexibly or choose eclectically along a continuum between these. It discusses the implications of this reimagined vision, including for understandings of relationships in the classroom, notions of authenticity in texts and communities, language modality, curricular outcomes, assessment and language repertoires. A reimagined research agenda is also offered that it is hoped will support attempts to make educational linguistics relevant to the widest possible range of practitioner communities worldwide.

Exploring Authenticity and Meaning in Art: an Analysis of Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices in “Headlong”, Novel by Michael Frayn

The subject of research is the novel “Headlong” by Michael Fraine, published in 1999. The purpose of the study is to study the concepts of authenticity and meaning in art, presented by the author through an analysis of expressive means and stylistic techniques in this novel. The methods used to obtain results include a formal method, a hermeneutic method, psychological and existential methods, and an applied method, since the study was conducted during the teaching of an extensive reading course for students of the 4th year of the Foreign language: two foreign languages specialty. Michael Fraine's “Headlong” offers a thought-provoking exploration of authenticity and meaning not only in art, but also in real life of both the fiction character and the reader. Through the protagonist's quest for a lost painting, the novel challenges conventional notions of authenticity, emphasizing the subjective nature of perception and interpretation. Frayn underscores the role of context in shaping the meaning of art and highlights the complex interplay between art and society. Ultimately, “Headlong” invites readers to reflect on the intricate relationship between authenticity, meaning, and the ever-evolving nature of art. This essay explores how Frayn's skillful use of language, narrative structure, and character development enhances the exploration of authenticity and meaning in art, shedding light on the complex interplay between perception, interpretation, and the subjective nature of artistic value. The obtained results are of applied character, since they can be used for inclusion in educational syllabi in the English language and Literature of Great Britain, or used to illustrate events in art circles or courses and/or to organize extracurricular events, such as debates about the role of art or about the boundaries between reality and perception.

Hildegard von Bingen’s Scivias in Weimar Germany: Media Theory by Hand

Abstract Between 1929 and 1930 a feud over the legitimacy of reproductions of works of art erupted in the pages of the culture periodical Der Kreis. Later dubbed the Hamburg Facsimile Debate, the dispute involved many of the day’s most eminent curators and academics in art and art history and became a focal point for emerging ideas about authenticity and the educative impact of the replica in the Weimar Republic. Even as the intelligentsia were publicly quarreling over the epistemological stakes of the facsimile, four nuns at Eibingen Abbey were meticulously hand-copying the most renowned illuminated twelfth-century manuscript of Hildegard von Bingen’s visionary summa, Scivias. This essay pits the Facsimile Debate against the facsimile craft of the Eibingen nuns, situating both within the context of new reproductive technologies devised specifically for representing medieval artifacts. It argues for a historicizing approach to the notion of authenticity, which bears on how we think about mediation and the surrogate in our research and teaching today.

Authentic cult: media representations of cultural consumption and legitimization of cultural hierarchies

The article explores legitimization strategies related to cultural consumption in the Czech media space by comparing the representations of cultural products in influencer communication on social media and in legacy (print and online) media outlets. Departing from the theoretical debate on the intersection of cultural omnivorousness and the emergence of algorithmic culture, the article poses the question: what strategies do influencers on social media and journalists in legacy media outlets employ to present consumption of cultural products as legitimate, interesting, and cool? Based on qualitative content analysis of 10 Instagram profiles of prominent Czech influencers and culture sections of 10 Czech legacy media, it discusses two main discursive legitimization strategies: (1) the notion of authenticity, used by social media influencers and (2) the notion of cult, used by legacy media in two distinctive ways – as (a) legendary, part of the pop cultural canon and (b) new, contemporary, part of up-to-date cultural savviness.

Analysis of the Human-Android Divide in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? And its Implications on Authenticity

This research paper delves into the intricate portrayal of the human-Android divide in Philip K. Dick's renowned novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and its profound implications on the notion of authenticity. Set in a dystopian future, the novel presents a world where advanced androids blur the lines between human and artificial emotions, raising existential questions about identity and consciousness. Through a meticulous analysis of pivotal passages and character interactions, the paper examines how the fluid nature of authenticity is influenced by emotional connections and experiences. The significance of empathy emerges as a defining characteristic, challenging conventional definitions of humanity and prompting characters to confront moral dilemmas and ethical considerations. By exploring the human-Android divide and the role of empathy, this study contributes to critical reflections on the ethical implications of artificial intelligence and the importance of genuine emotional connections in a technologically driven world. The research underscores the enduring impact of Dick's visionary work in challenging societal constructs and inspiring contemplation on the complexities of the human experience.

Everyday reconciliations of ‘foodyism’ and meat alternatives

Meat alternatives may play an important role in sustainable food transitions. However, numerous barriers to the increased consumption of these products have been identified. This paper explores the consumption of meat alternatives in relation to ‘foodyism’, understood here as contemporary discourses and practices of gourmet food glorifying ‘exoticism’ and ‘authenticity’. Foodyism can be viewed as a relevant cultural barrier to the increased uptake of meat alternatives, especially due to its adherence to the notion of authenticity. The paper argues that the cultural and symbolic tension between foodyism and meat alternatives must be sufficiently resolved if meat alternatives are to play a key role in sustainable food transitions. Accordingly, inspired by practice theoretical approaches in consumption research, and based on an analysis of qualitative data collected in Finland in 2020 through an online questionnaire (N=448, of which 49 were included in the final analysis), the paper focuses on describing the reconciliation of foodyism and meat alternatives already evident in the food-related practices of food practitioners. The performances of reconciliation described in this paper are characterised by ‘looking beyond individual ingredients’, ‘laborious and skilful cooking’, and the meanings of home food and creativity. The results suggest that the ways of ‘doing foodyism’ may be changing in the wake of the current ecological crises, and the paper argues that the new patterns are worth advocating in efforts to advance the practical and symbolic acceptance of meat alternatives.

Common difference: Conceptualising simultaneity and racial sincerity in Jewish-Muslim relations in the United Kingdom

Building upon ethnographic research conducted among participants in UK-based initiatives in Jewish-Muslim dialogue, the paper contributes to anthropological literature on the essentialising nature of state-sponsored constructions of minoritised groups. More specifically, I put forward two sets of arguments. Firstly, I suggest a concept of simultaneity that challenges colonially inflected conceptualisations of the relationship between communities and their respective traditions. Activists of Jewish-Muslim inter-community work subvert dominant conceptualisations of intergroup commonalities and divergencies by developing a theorisation of Jewish-Muslim relations that acknowledges group similarities and differences as overlapping categories. Secondly, I contribute to John Jackson's (2005) theorisation of racial sincerity, a notion offering a conceptual challenge to the notion of authenticity. I argue that the complexity of my interlocutors’ thematisations of Jewish-Muslim relations underpinned by the diversity of the sources of knowledge that they rely on could be best understood as an example of this analytic. On a broader theoretical plane, the paper proposes a framework that underscores the agentive power of minority communities and pays close attention to the way they define their positionalities vis-à-vis the majorities and each other in ways that go beyond binaries-based theorisations.

DEVELOPING SUSTAINABILITY BY REDISCOVERING THE CONCEPT OF AUTHENTICITY

In the past few decades, the concept of sustainability has entered almost all spheres of human activity while having an impact on environmental, economic, and social issues. Its definition varies from field to field adopting its meaning to different aspects, viewpoints, and conjectures. The polysemantic character of the concept requires a deeper insight into the intrinsic meaning of the notion itself. A proposition has been made to view sustainability from the aspect of a tourist destination. Namely, the objective of this article is to reconsider the concept of sustainability from the linguistical and etymological point of view by connecting it to the notion of authenticity in tourism. The authors consider that the lack of authenticity is a main drawback and an impediment to a true manifestation of sustainable development`s real nature in the future. This article thus argues that, if we omit to recognize the essentiality of sustainability as a concept, the mechanisms necessary for its implementation may be perceived as imposed, rigid, and ethically inconsistent.

Shine Louise Houston and the metapornographic queering of voyeurism

ABSTRACT This article examines the work of filmmaker-producer Shine Louise Houston, founder of Pink and White Productions and director of the lesbian porn classic The Crash Pad, which spawned an eponymous, website-based series. Houston, whose 15-year tenure directing the Crash Pad Series ended in 2022, has crafted a queer pornography that interrogates notions of authenticity, largely through her signature trope of inviting, and meeting head on, the voyeuristic gaze. While celebrating Houston’s contribution to the production and distribution of queerly diverse porn, we also argue for a recognition of her metapornographic vision.

Le responsable qualité en radiothérapie : évolution du rôle, présentation d’une enquête nationale

PurposeReview the role of the quality manager 15 years after ASN Decision 2008-DC-103 and 10 years after the creation of the Association française de la qualité et sécurité en radiothérapie (AFQSR), taking into account the new regulatory framework introduced by ASN Decisions 2021-DC-708 and 2019-DC-660. Materials and methodsa survey was drawn up and distributed to members of the French association for quality and safety in radiotherapy. ResultsThe role of the quality manager in radiotherapy is one of the pillars of the quality/safety approach introduced by ASN Decision 2008-DC-103. ConclusionThe hierarchical position of the quality manager needs to be better defined, as does the notion of authority. The time and resources allocated to the function and to the quality/safety approach also need to be adapted, as these are the main factors of tension identified by the survey. The publication of ASN Decision 2019-DC-660 has extended the scope of the quality manager to include imaging in several centers.

Attribution and Obfuscation of Neural Text Authorship: A Data Mining Perspective

Two interlocking research questions of growing interest and importance in privacy research are Authorship Attribution (AA) and Authorship Obfuscation (AO). Given an artifact, especially a text t in question, an AA solution aims to accurately attribute t to its true author out of many candidate authors while an AO solution aims to modify t to hide its true authorship. Traditionally, the notion of authorship and its accompanying privacy concern is only toward human authors. However, in recent years, due to the explosive advancements in Neural Text Generation (NTG) techniques in NLP, capable of synthesizing human-quality openended texts (so-called "neural texts"), one has to now consider authorships by humans, machines, or their combination. Due to the implications and potential threats of neural texts when used maliciously, it has become critical to understand the limitations of traditional AA/AO solutions and develop novel AA/AO solutions in dealing with neural texts. In this survey, therefore, we make a comprehensive review of recent literature on the attribution and obfuscation of neural text authorship from a Data Mining perspective, and share our view on their limitations and promising research directions.

Settling land, unsettling people: Living with and contesting land, social change and grand schemes in rural central Jordan

ABSTRACT In this article I consider how changing legal and social conceptions of land usage and ownership in rural central Jordan offer ethnographic purchase on broad questions of historical change and political economy. Yet equally, I show how this topic shows the limitations of such broad questions, and how reducing local processes into them can obscure historically contingent but enduring practices and patterns of land relations. I consider how reforms stemming from different visions of history and of modernity, in the face of colonial, post-colonial and neoliberal processes of land registration and settlement, and of mass-migration and urban expansion, have combined and clashed, leaving partially fulfilled grand projects and palimpsest-like marks on local political economy, but also how they have been adapted, contested, resisted, and reproduced by rural Jordanians. I particularly consider how the imposition of neoliberal land reforms since the 1980s has coincided with the rise of the hijjah; the trade and sale of semi-legal deeds of protection and cessation over tracts of tribal land, left in an ambiguous state of registration by successive modernist state-building schemes. This has enabled a kind of commoditization to emerge, but one which runs against the grain of official thinking on land tenure, and which partakes instead in very different notions of authority, legitimacy and sovereignty.

Aristotelian themes in critical ethical naturalism

AbstractKey features of critical ethical naturalism (CEN) can be more fully appreciated by considering them in relation to themes in Aristotle’s ethics and politics. Drawing on Aristotle’s writings, four central features of CEN are explored. The first aspect of CEN considered concerns its recognition that we are community beings that are mutually constituted and subject to co-development, Aristotle’s discussion of character friendship and our essentially political nature supports a fuller appreciation of what this involves and implies. A second aspect of CEN examined relates to the use of the term ‘eudaimonia’ to refer to a life of a human fulfilled (a life of flourishing)—Aristotle’s own use of the term is considered and shown to be valuable in clarifying its deployment in CEN. The third feature of CEN discussed concerns the extent to which all humans are critical ethical naturalists due to their inherent dispositions to care. Aristotle is seen as supporting the view that we have an inbuilt tendency to care but is shown to also maintain that humans, when rational, choose to endorse their caring (rather than other) tendencies not simply because they are natural but because they are good. These insights enable a better appreciation of CEN’s claims by clarifying the connections between our rational faculties and our innate tendencies to care for others. Finally, the recognition in CEN of the vulnerabilities of humans stemming from their communal nature and the analysis of ways in which certain configurations of social relations weaken our tendencies to care and form obstacles in the path to a good society are shown to echo important reservations Aristotle had about certain forms of association. Aristotle’s notion of organicity in the development of social arrangements is shown to provide useful clarifications regarding the notion of authenticity (and its connections with human flourishing) as the latter is deployed in CEN.

Nationalization of Spatiotemporal Artifacts: National Chronotope, Authenticity, and Local Colors in Danish TV Dramas

This article investigates the conceptualization of spatiality and temporality in television drama series in the age of extensive digital media consumption by focusing on Turkish audiences’ reception of Danish TV dramas. Based on the empirical data collected through extended fieldwork in Turkey, and relying on Bakhtin’s concept of chronotope (spacetime), I analyze how research participants negotiate socio-geographical features, as well as both spatial and temporal textual representations signifying Danish culture and society by delineating “authenticity” and “local color” to distinct spatiotemporal cues in Danish TV drama series. This study reveals that by critically articulating notions of authenticity and local color as distinguishing markers of a particular spacetime, Turkish audiences employ these concepts as strategies to define “national chronotope” which provides a middle ground for reconciliation between the facticity of the geographical place and mediated images of space, as well as factuality of time and local temporalities on screen.

AUTHENTICITY AND THE POOR IMAGE IN THE AGE OF DEEP LEARNING

Deep learning techniques are increasingly used to automate categorization and identification tasks for large datasets of digital photographs. For rasterized images formats, such as JPEGs, GIFs, and PNGs, the analysis happens on the level of individual pixels. Given this, digital images used in deep learning applications are typically restricted to relatively low-resolution formats to conform to the standards of popular pre-trained neural networks. Using Hito Steyerl’s conception of the ‘poor image’ as a theoretical frame, this article investigates the use of these relatively low-resolution images in automated analysis, exploring the ways in which they may be deemed preferable to higher-resolution images for deep learning applications. The poor image is rich in value in this context, as it limits the undesirable ‘noise’ of too much detail. In considering the case of automated art authentication, this article argues that a notion of authenticity is beginning to emerge that raises questions around Walter Benjamin’s often-cited definition in relation to mass image culture. Copies or reproductions are now forming the basis for a new model of authenticity, which exists latently in the formal properties of a digital image.

“For explorers by explorers”

The Norwegian company Hurtigruten operates ships cruising along the Norwegian coast and has played an important role in tourism for over a century. This article provides a multimodal discourse analysis of the website advertising Hurtigruten’s most popular journey, drawing on a critical tourism studies approach. It aims to answer the question as to what central themes emerge in tourism discourse on Norway, targeted at an international audience. Central characteristics of tourism discourse (Dann 1996), i.e., strangerhood, conflict, authenticity, and playfulness, are shown to be crucial in the analysed material. The paper discusses the notion of authenticity as a performative strategy in the promotion of Norwegian cruise tourism. One central aim of this paper is finding out what and how the notion of “authentically Norwegian” is advertised. The results imply that these topics, and especially the notion of authenticity, are aligned with general tourism imaginaries, which are similar globally.