Relational affect and authenticity in themed space: China’s “Uniquely Henan”

Abstract

Affect was regarded as a crucial foundation for relational authenticity in theme parks and tourism performance. However, authenticity was often treated as an individual emotional response and cognitive judgment triggered by external stimuli. In response to the affective turn’s call to attend to the relational, non-representational, and political-economic dimensions of affect, this study integrates feeling, emotion, and discourse into a relational affect framework to examine how authenticity emerges from affective relations. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and semi-structured interviews, it conducts a case study of the themed space Uniquely Henan within China’s political-economic context. The findings show that authenticity is a dynamic result emergent from the multi-dimensional configuration of affective relations involving political economy, discourse, affective apparatuses, and the body. Driven by the flow and transformation of affective energy, this process redefines authenticity as “intensity authenticity,” emphasizing the relational attributes and possibilities. This study contributes to extend the understanding of authenticity through relational affect, confirm the role of negative affect in authenticity, and bridge conceptual divides among affect-related terms.