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