Fabricating Authenticity

Jason W. M. Ellsworth is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology and Social Anthropology Department at Dalhousie University. He currently works at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Prince Edward Island and serves on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Anthropology Society. His research explores a diverse array of topics including the Anthropology and Sociology of Religion, Buddhism in North America, Food and Food Movements, Theories of Value, Political Economy, Marketing, Transnationalism, and Orientalism.Andie Alexander is a doctoral candidate in the Institute for the Study of Religion at Leibniz University Hannover. She is co-editor (with Jason W. M. Ellsworth) of Fabricating Authenticity (Equinox, 2024) and is Managing Editor of The Religious Studies Project. Her research focuses on identity construction, discourses of difference and experience, and conceptions of the individual as a way to examine how post-9/11 discourses of inclusivity and pluralism implicitly work as a form of governance and subject-making which construct and constrain the liberal Muslim subject.

• PrefaceJasonEllsworth and Andie Alexander Introduction:Commodifying Authenticity JasonEllsworth and Andie Alexander 1.Is There Lettuce in Greek Salad? RussellT. McCutcheon, University of Alabama 2.Beyond Authenticity? IanAlexander Cuthbertson, Dawson College 3.Marketing the Authentic Taco JasonEllsworth 4.A Remembrance of Dishes Past RachelD. Brown, University of Victoria 5.Because YOU’RE an Early Adopter (and I’M NOT): CommodityFetishism and Identification ChristopherR. Cotter, The Open University 6.Fool’s Gold: Tapping into Luxury Ping-hsiuAlice Lin, Chinese University of Hong Kong7.“Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline” TaraBaldrick-Morrone, Florida State University 8.Satisfaction Not Guaranteed: COVID-19, Higher Ed, and the Politics of“Experience” SierraL. Lawson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 9.A Man, A Tan, “God’s Plan” RichardNewton, University of Alabama 10.Just in It for a Paycheck?: On Philanthrocapitalism, Petro-States,and Paid Protesters StacieSwain, University of Victoria 11.On the Tyranny of Individualism: MAGA Boy, Media, and the Drum MattSheedy, University of Bonn 12.Symbols and Ownership YasmineFlodin-Ali, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 13.Donald Trump: A “Baby Christian”? LeslieDorrough Smith, Avila University 14.An Orbiter Is a Simp, a Foid Is a Foid NevadaS. Drollinger-Smith, Arizona State University 15.Naming Things StevenRamey, University of Alabama16.While Whitey’s on the Moon AnnieRose O’Brien, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 17.In Their Own Terms VaiaTouna, University of Alabama 18.Laurel, Mississippi, in Its Own Terms (kind of) MarshallA. Cunningham, University of Chicago 19.“A Good Fake or a Bad Fake?” AndieAlexander 20.Pay Attention!: Media, Performance, and Discourses on Authenticity DanielJones 21.Do People Misunderstand Their Own Religion? CraigMartin, St Thomas Aquinas College 22.But is It Really Religion? SavannahH. Finver, Ohio State University 23.If It’s Not Authentic, It’s Not a Religion TeemuTaira, Univesity of Helsinki 24.Rebranding Religion: Authenticity, Representation, and theMarketplace ZabeenKhamisa, WilfridLaurier University-University of Waterloo25.Is There Neo-Nazi DNA? Ancestry Tests and Biological Essentialism inAmerican Racism MarthaSmith, Fullerton College 26.Making Sense of a Sense of Self IsraelL. Domínguez, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27.The Moves We Make K.Merinda Simmons, University of Alabama 28.Trans* Muslims and Jessica Krug: Analyzing the Discursive Power ofAuthenticity HinasaharMuneeruddin, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Afterword:A Little Heritage Goes a Long Way AndieAlexander and Jason Ellsworth