Enjoying contradictions: The spectacular fantasy of tourism authenticity in southern Africa

Abstract

This article uses Debord's ‘spectacle’ and Lacanian psychoanalysis to theorize tourism authenticity as a fantasy (i.e. a story we tell ourselves to make sense of the world). Some tourism types sell ‘authenticity’ by offering experiences of ‘pristine’ nature and ‘exotic’ people. Often, such tourist destinations are ‘spectacularized’, referring to the triumph of representations in modern capitalism that creates an ‘authentic’ reality through repetition. However, such representations are selective and conceal uncomfortable elements. They are crucial for creating and perpetuating fantasies, which sustain their appeal through desires yet remain practically unattainable. We analyze the institutionalized promotional tourism discourse surrounding the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), in particular representations regarding nature, local cultures, adventures, and attempts to ‘do good’. Covering parts of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, KAZA was created for conservation, peace-building, and socio-economic development purposes, largely relying on tourism. We examine the narratives of diverse national and international stakeholders involved in KAZA and how these create and maintain an authentic fantasy in their publicity efforts. This way, we contribute to tourism studies and psychoanalytic political ecology by combining Lacanian fantasy and the specific role of spectacularization, developing a synthesis that helps to analyze and understand the appeal and implications of selling authenticity. We argue that spectacularized fantasies stimulate jouissance : a particular type of ambivalent enjoyment/pleasure that includes ‘painful’ (dark and horrific) elements that generate and sustain desire by promising illusory fulfillment while ensuring its persistent suspension by concealing underlying hierarchies and contradictions in society and nature.