Tourists at the Taj : performance and meaning at a symbolic site / Tim Edensor.

9780415167130 (paperback)
0415167132 (paperback)
9780415167123
0415167124

London ; New York : Routledge, 1998.

English

ix, 223 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

DS486.A3 E34 1998

954/.2

The Taj Mahal has long been a subject for photography and poetry, but this book presents the first sociological analysis of the Taj as a cultural phenomenon. Tim Edensor examines the conflicting narratives which surround the site: postcolonial views of the monument as a symbol of love, of India and of splendid exuberance; and those which challenge this ethnocentricity, for whom the Taj is the symbolic center of Islamic power or a site of Moghul appropriation. He discusses many of the tourist practices around the Taj and considers the notion of tourism in a wider context. Clearly written and fascinatingly illustrated, this book describes tourism as "performance" and the tourist site as a "stage" on which tourists are directed and rehearsed, improvising cultural conventions in the complex production of leisure space.--Publisher description.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-214) and indexes.

International library of sociology.

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