Culture on Display

"a welcome addition to a growing body of scholarly writing... a comprehensive critical survey of the literature on cultural heritage and tourism and associated issues in the fields of cultural and media studies over the previous decade. These concepts and issues are clearly presented and exemplified in the case studies of numerous sites of cultural display..." Southern Review*Why do we find culture on display everywhere today?

*What are the major characteristics of contemporary cultural display?

*What is the relationship between cultural display and key features of contemporary society - such as the rise of consumerism, tourism, 'identity-speak' and globalisation?

*What can cultural display tell us about current relations of self/other, here/there, now/then?

Culture on Display invites the reader to visit culture. Reflecting on the contemporary proliferation of sites displaying culture in visitable form, it introduces readers to fresh ways of thinking about tourism, leisure and heritage. Diverse exhibitionary locations, from city redevelopment zones and nature parks to living history museums and virtual reality, are all reflecting new ways of defining both culture and display. They are multi-sensory, kinetic and interactive environments which seek to catch not only the gaze but to immerse the body in a wrap-around experience of culture. They attempt to reach out and 'grab' the visitor, transforming places into invitations to 'come hither'. The book locates these sites within wider social, economic and cultural transformations, including contemporary practices of tourism and travel, strategies of economic development, the staging of identities and relations of consumerism. In each chapter, key theoretical issues of debate, such as authenticity, commodification and representation, are introduced in a lively and accessible manner.