Contrary to the received wisdom that ‘authenticity’ is a culturally specific phenomenon on the verge of disappearing, this article holds that it is a mode of interrogating the world available to all. It is argued that a cross-cultural and analytic notion of authenticity can be profitably fashioned once it is noted that its attribution applies to performances and representations which are important because they present something regarded as ontologically inaccessible. The social and political dynamics of authenticity's ontological operations are explored in a reading of recent literature on Primitive Art, ethnographic performances and museums.
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