"This must be the place": Events, existential authenticity, and narratives of home at Burning Man

Brooks, Caitlin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115587 Copy

Description

Title

"This must be the place": Events, existential authenticity, and narratives of home at Burning Man

Author(s)

Brooks, Caitlin

Issue Date

2022-04-20

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Santos, Carla

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Santos, Carla

Committee Member(s)

• Moodie, Ellen
• Chalip, Laurence
• Stewart, William

Department of Study

Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Discipline

Recreation, Sport, and Tourism

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Burning Man
• festival
• event
• existentialism
• home
• tourism

Abstract

This dissertation explores the relationship between narratives of home in a tourism event space – Burning Man – and the meanings derived from that event for participants. Using a Sartrean existential authenticity framework, ethnography, and life story interviews, this work explores how each participant uses the event space in unique embedded ways to further their pursuit of existential authenticity. Narratives of home reflect feelings of familiarity, safety, and belonging and event spaces which facilitate these feelings are more likely to elicit these narratives. Narratives of home change and evolve over time, both in response to the participant’s level of engagement without the event community and to other factors affecting their life outside the event. Finally, evidence on the role of top-down narratives in such affective experiences is explored, urging caution for event planners and coordinators.

Graduation Semester

2022-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Caitlin Brooks

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