PHIL 303: Authenticity

Wellesley College | Spring 2025 | 

DRAFT, SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Fakes, forgeries, copies, knockoffs, imposters, posers, phonies: we have so many words for people and things that we judge to be inauthentic. But what exactly is authenticity? What, if anything, is valuable about it? In this course, we will explore the concept of authenticity as it surfaces in art, nature, food, culture, love, politics, history, and experience in an attempt to determine what is at stake in being the real deal.

Readings:

1. 

Authentic Food

• Matt Strohl, "On Culinary Authenticity"

• Jasmin Malik Chua "Why the Asian-American Food Movement Complicates What We Think About Authenticity" in Refinery 29

• John Paul Brammer, “I’m from a Mexican family. Stop expecting me to eat ‘authentic’ food,” in The Washington Post

2. 

Authentic Music: The Case of Country

• John Dyck, "The Aesthetics of Country Music"

• Emmie Malone, "Country Music and the Problem of Authenticity"

3. 

Authentic Representation

• Joy Shim, "Literary Racial Impersonation"

• Kurt Blankschaen and Travis Timmerman, "Acting Out: Straight Performers Permissibly Portraying Queer Characters"

4. 

No Class

• Work on Argument Analysis

5.

Authentic Stuff

• Carolyn Korsmeyer, "Touch and the Experience of the Genuine"

• Joshua Lewis Thomas, "Authenticity and Contact Value"

Further Reading:

• Shannon Lee Dawdy, "The Antique Fetish” in Patina: A Profane Archaeology

• Sian Jones, "Negotiating Authentic Objects and Authentic Selves"

6. 

Authenticity, Sincerity and the Curated Self

• Lauren Bialystok, "Refuting Polonius: Sincerity, Authenticity, and 'Schtick'"

• Karen Frost-Arnold, Who Should We Be Online?, Chapter 3 

7. 

Authentic Choices 1

• Marina Oshana, "Autonomy and the Question of Authenticity"

• L.A. Paul, Transformative Experience, selections

8. 

Authentic Choices 2

• Vida Yao, "Eros and Anxiety"

• Daniela Dover, "Identity and Influence"

9. 

Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, and Authenticity

• Rowan Bell, "Being Your Best Self: Authenticity, Morality, and Gender Norms"

• Robin Dembroff and Cat Saint-Croix, "'Yep, I'm Gay.' Understanding Agential Identity"

10. 

Labels, Identity, and Authenticity

• Elisabeth Camp and Carolina Flores, "Playing with Labels: Identity terms as tools for building agency"

11. 

Race, Culture, and Authentic Identity

• Paul C. Taylor, "Roots and Routes: Disarming Authenticity" in Black is Beautiful

• Emily S. Lee, "The Ambiguous Practices of the Inauthentic Asian-American Woman"

12. 

Peer Editing

13. 

Peer Editing