Sharing culture or selling out? Developing the commodified persona in the heritage industry

Native American professionals in the heritage industry often describe their work as "sharing culture" when they are involved in processes of transforming features of their cultures into alienable products for consumption. Participation in the heritage industry can be a powerful catalyst fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American ethnologist 2008-08, Vol.35 (3), p.380-395
Main Author: Bunten, Alexis Celeste
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alaska
America
Clans
Commodification
Cross cultural studies
Cultural heritage
Cultural identity
Cultural relations
Cultural reproduction
Cultural studies
Culture
Ethnology
Guided tours
Hospitality industry
Indigenous populations
Native Americans
Native North Americans
North Amerindians
Persona
Social relations. Intercultural and interethnic relations. Collective identity
Social structure and social relations
Tour guides
Tourism
U.S.A
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Summary:Native American professionals in the heritage industry often describe their work as "sharing culture" when they are involved in processes of transforming features of their cultures into alienable products for consumption. Participation in the heritage industry can be a powerful catalyst for local cultural reproduction, but it also poses a danger to those aspects of culture that Natives consciously protect from commodification. Drawing from a case study of a Native American—owned cultural-tourism business in Alaska, I explore the ways that tourism workers respond to this threat through the construction of what I call a "commodified persona."
ISSN:0094-0496
1548-1425
DOI:10.1111/j.1548-1425.2008.00041.x