The project is concerned with the publication of a monograph the manuscript of which was originally a PhD thesis presented in 2012. Heavily revised, the monograph provides an anthropological analysis of the encounter between local residents and tourists in the Trobriand Islands, a place renowned in anthropology and represented in various media as 'culturally authentic.' I examine the social dimensions of cross-cultural exchange in four arenas (performance, village life, souvenirs, photography) to argue that cultural commodities are conceived of as singularities, a special category whose commodity status is downplayed in order to generate an increased sense of authenticity and to perpetuate the myth of a 'primitive' economy and way of life more generally.
Given publication support the monograph will be made available at the
cost of around USD 55, a reasonable price that will make the book accessible to prospective individual buyers as well as libraries. Funding from the research council will also ensure that essential images can be included in the monograph. The publication support provided by the Norwegian Research Council will thus ensure wider dissemination of the monograph than would otherwise be likely. Further, quick availability in paperback would increase the likelihood of this book being incorporated as a classroom text, a possibility that has been suggested explicitly by one of the reviewers.