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Place Representation through Souvenir Production and Consumption

Description
Mass-produced souvenirs are generally neglected, and are associated with negative attitudes in existing tourism research. However, sporadic studies showed that tourists sometimes prefer the ‘less authentic’ souvenirs compared with the more ‘authentic’ ones. Besides, despite the seemingly strong desire for ‘authentic’ souvenirs, so-called ‘inauthentic’ souvenirs seem to dominate the market.…

Mass-produced souvenirs are generally neglected, and are associated with negative attitudes in existing tourism research. However, sporadic studies showed that tourists sometimes prefer the ‘less authentic’ souvenirs compared with the more ‘authentic’ ones. Besides, despite the seemingly strong desire for ‘authentic’ souvenirs, so-called ‘inauthentic’ souvenirs seem to dominate the market. Finally, cultural and creative products (CC products), which have grown in popularity in China in recent years, are generally mass-produced. These phenomena suggest that it is imperative to better understand souvenirs, especially mass-produced ones, because they have long been ignored by tourism scholars. This study aims to better understand CC products from a new perspective based on the relationship between product and place drawn from various literatures. Specifically, the objectives/research questions of this study include 1) How to understand souvenirs to re-situate the CC product?; 2) How do suppliers’ perceive CC products with regard to place?; and 3) How do tourists perceive CC products with regard to place. To answer these questions, qualitative data from participant observations and in-depth interviews were employed. The results of this study are as follows. First, a new typology of souvenirs is generated by employing the perspective of the relationship between place and products generated based on a framework of territorialization, deterritorialization, and reterritorialization. It includes localized, customized, and generic souvenirs, with CC products constituting part of the range of customized souvenirs. Most interviewees, suppliers (producers and museum sellers) and tourists (consumers), emphasized the importance of place representation in souvenirs for various reasons. Next, interviewees from souvenir production companies and visitors tend to favor souvenirs designed after famous artifacts, although this might contradict museum employees’ views. Most interviewees, both suppliers and tourists, tend to hold generally positive (at least neutral) attitudes toward online souvenir stores. Finally, most suppliers and tourists somehow revealed the dialectical process in globalization marked by various characteristics: homogenization/similarity – uniqueness represented in CC products. And the dilemma between “reproducible innovation (creativity)” and uniqueness seeking within souvenir production and consumption is well represented in this study. This study makes several unique contributions, both theoretically and practically.
ContributorsHe, Linsi He (Author) / Timothy, Dallen DJT (Thesis advisor) / Chhabra, Deepak DC (Committee member) / Nyaupane, Gyan GN (Committee member) / Li, Wei WL (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022