{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","title":"Curation in the Age of Platform Capitalism  The Value of Selection, Narration, and Expertise in New Media Cultures","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781032023007","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","id":"d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","uuid":"d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","title":"Curation in the Age of Platform Capitalism  The Value of Selection, Narration, and Expertise in New Media Cultures","normalized_title":"curationintheageofplatformcapitalismthevalueofselectionnarrationandexpertiseinnewmediacultures","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781032023007","isbns":["9781032023007","9781032023014","9781003182801"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":177,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Curation%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20Platform%20Capitalism%20%20The%20Value%20of%20Selection%2C%20Narration%2C%20and%20Expertise%20in%20New%20Media%20Cultures","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406/search"},"page":{"printed_page":108,"pdf_page":118,"physical_index":118,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"efb03441d3f3653c24548854bdac10479d1cf215baf6b863a00b581e88ac0938"},"chapter":"CURATION IN THE AGE OF PLATFORM CAPITALISM","content":"These authentic-seekers, for the marketing researchers Ian Seymour Yeoman and Una McMahon-Beattie, aspire to an “alternative to the perceived ‘homogenisation’ of contemporary culture, food, and leisure experiences” (2019: 116), as they simply want to be diferent. The experiences they desire should have “clear links to a place, time, or culture”, that is experiences that are “produced in a traditional way, that are unique, and that have a genuine story behind them” (Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie, 2019: 115). Yet the quest for authenticity cannot be seen as categorically separated from other consumer micro-trends in the experience economy, including what Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie call the “fluid identity” or the “everyday exceptional” (2019: 116). For example, the quest for authentic food may be just one quest out of several for a consumer who perceives their identity as “fluid”, that is one who buys both low-end and occasionally high-end and makes hybrid consumer choices. Or it may be part of a consumer behavior defined as “everyday exceptional”, that is of consumer behaviour that is characterized by constantly pursuing occasions to break the everyday routine (2019: 116). In other words, the quest for authenticity is a non-linear, distributed practice across urban and middle-class milieus rather than an identity strictly corresponding to a particular group of consumers (similarly to the aspirational class as I argue below).\n\nThe consumption of authenticity can grant a romantic sense to reality, and assembles, in this sense, a “romantic view of consumption”, reminiscent of the first travel and hospitality encounters of Northern Europeans in the 19th century involving orientalizing exotic places (Makkar and Yap, 2022: 3464; see also Buck-Morss, 1987). Romanticism, as a cultural and artistic movement, emerged as a reaction to industrial modernity and historically assumed various political forms, either regressive or progressive. The experience economy mobilizes a romanticism devoid of political narratives apart from the single incitement to consume. To go back to the babushka example, she acts as a promise of authenticity, a communicable sign that can provide the self and others a moment of alleged transgression from supposedly inauthentic, industrialized food practices. This transgression from the norm guarantees an individual encounter with romanticism packaged as a commodity that can turn into a badge of authenticity shared visually or orally with acquaintances, friends, and followers. Devoid of a political vision, such as that of movements challenging dominant eating practices, including the slow food movement or even dumpster diving, romanticism is here exclusively a business imperative. Authentic consumers expect to be enchanted by consumption and give themselves over “to something greater than the self”, thereby becoming part of an encounter that transgresses the profit motive or, even better, “becoming part of the enchanted object or lifestyle” (Makkar and Yap, 2022: 3462). Food authenticity, as we will see in the next section, is part of a difused gastronomic imaginary which gives rise to questions of identity, class, and selfhood.\n\n108\n\nCultures of Platform Capitalism","previous_page":107,"next_page":109}