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Presentation short abstract

How the ideal tourism experience and “authenticity” are nothing more than fantasies sustained through spectacularization and the stimulation of jouissance, ensuring the persistent suspension of the desired fulfillment by concealing underlying hierarchies and contradictions in society and nature.

Presentation long abstract

Using Debord's the ‘spectacle’ and Lacanian psychoanalysis, we theorize tourism authenticity as a fantasy (i.e. a story we tell ourselves to make sense of the world). Some tourism types sell ‘authenticity’ by offering experiences of ‘pristine’ nature and ‘exotic’ people. Often, such tourist destinations are ‘spectacularized’, referring to the triumph of representations in modern capitalism that creates an ‘authentic’ reality through repetition. However, such representations are selective and conceal uncomfortable elements. Nonetheless, they are crucial in the creation and continuation of fantasies, which sustain their appeal through creating and perpetuating desires, yet remain practically unattainable. We analyzed the tourism discourse surrounding the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), in particular representations regarding nature, local cultures, adventures, and attempts to ‘do good’. Covering parts of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, KAZA was created for conservation, peace-building, and socio-economic development purposes, largely relying on tourism. We examined the narratives of diverse national and international stakeholders involved in KAZA and how these create and maintain an authentic fantasy. We contribute to tourism studies and psychoanalytic political ecology by combining Lacanian fantasy and the specific role of spectacularization, developing a novel synthesis that helps to analyze and understand the appeal and implications of selling authenticity. Importantly, we argue that spectacularized fantasies stimulate jouissance: a particular type of ambivalent enjoyment/pleasure that includes ‘painful’ (dark and horrific) elements which generate and sustain desire by promising illusory fulfillment, while ensuring its persistent suspension by concealing underlying hierarchies and contradictions in society and nature.