@article{890069,
      recid = {890069},
      author = {Edensor, Tim,},
      title = {Tourists at the Taj : performance and meaning at a  symbolic site /},
      publisher = {Routledge,},
      address = {London ;},
      pages = {ix, 223 pages :},
      year = {1998},
      abstract = {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.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/890069},
}