Producing heritage: culture as commodity in Madurai
by Gita V. Pai
International Journal of Tourism Anthropology (IJTA), Vol. 5, No. 1/2, 2016

Abstract: This paper explores the actual and potential museumification of living cultural and religious forms at the Minakshi-Sundareshvara temple complex in Madurai, a major pilgrimage site in the state of Tamil Nadu, south India. It focuses primarily on attempts to sanitise and thus reinvent tradition by removing commerce from within the 17th-century Pudu Mandapam (Tamil, 'new hall'), where it has had a longstanding place. This endeavour is ironically related to larger attempts to produce 'heritage' as a commodity that can be marketed in the context of a growing cultural tourism industry. The finished museum will reconfigure everyday life, transforming the ephemeral into static, ahistorical displays that appeal to foreigners, foreign nationals of Indian ancestry and visitors from other parts of India.

Online publication date: Wed, 01-Jun-2016

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