Like Nate and some others, I also have trouble finding "authentic" useful.
I wonder if it hides some other relations that we might be able to specify.
In the writing process work (including Randy's own really rich work in this
area) there's a sense of work being meaningful to the worker or community
of workers (writing vs. "writing"). In this sense of meaningfulness,
whether or not the work is "pretend" (part of an imagined world, imaginary
geography, tertiarty artifact, etc.) is not necessarily a point of division
in meaningful/not meaningful for the person doing the work, is it? In my
experience, written or other work taking place within a "pretend" world,
and/or constructs that world, may be one of the most meaningful types of
work.
From another perspective on these relations, though, we could talk about
the currency or cultural capital of any work, as shaped in part by its
circulation and giving it meaning in various social relations. Taking an
outsider's perspective on this currency could well be different than an
emic perspective. One problem, though, is that these relations are not
clear cut--we do not operate in isolated contexts. (In this sense,
authentic or meaningful or any other term we use will always be contested.)
Kevin
Kevin Leander
Box 330
Peabody College, Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 322-8080
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