IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/anture/v113y2025ics0160738325000866.html

Affective authentication: Transforming strangers into family

Author

Listed:
  • Segal, Oren T.
  • Kidron, Carol A.

Abstract

We present a qualitative study of amateur genealogists' first encounters with newly-discovered co-descendants as tourist objects on the move in Israel, Hungary and the United States. Interviewees' intersubjective interaction and heritage ‘doing’ disclose ancestral mutuality of being transforming strangers into affectively authenticated family. Data depicts a dialectical process between cool and hot authentication unique to the tourist context of distance/proximity and home/away together activating family-relatedness. Reconceptualizing the binary of cool-hot authentication, we propose a gradational authentication process whereby the “warming effect” of affect fuels transitions between cold, warm and hot authentication constituting intersubjective tourist moments and dyadic existential identities. Findings problematize disciplinary framing of family tourism and genealogical tourism while contributing to research on non-familial local-tourist relations and hospitality/experiential tourism.

Suggested Citation

  • Segal, Oren T. & Kidron, Carol A., 2025. "Affective authentication: Transforming strangers into family," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:113:y:2025:i:c:s0160738325000866
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2025.103980
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738325000866
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.annals.2025.103980?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bryce, Derek & Murdy, Samantha & Alexander, Matthew, 2017. "Diaspora, authenticity and the imagined past," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 49-60.
    2. Julio Batle & Joan B. Garau-Vadell & Francina Orfila-Sintes, 2020. "Are locals ready to cross a new frontier in tourism? Factors of experiential P2P orientation in tourism," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(10), pages 1277-1290, May.
    3. Humbracht, Michael & Cohen, Scott & Williams, Allan M., 2022. "Aspirational intimacy in visiting friends and relatives," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    4. Prince, Solène, 2021. "Performing genealogy through travel narratives," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    5. Moore, Kevin & Buchmann, Annæ & Månsson, Maria & Fisher, David, 2021. "Authenticity in tourism theory and experience. Practically indispensable and theoretically mischievous?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Scott A. Cohen & Erik Cohen, 2019. "New directions in the sociology of tourism," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 153-172, January.
    7. Gram, Malene & O'Donohoe, Stephanie & Schänzel, Heike & Marchant, Caroline & Kastarinen, Anne, 2019. "Fun time, finite time: Temporal and emotional dimensions of grandtravel experiences," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Canavan, Brendan & McCamley, Claire, 2021. "Negotiating authenticity: Three modernities," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Rickly, Jillian M., 2022. "A review of authenticity research in tourism: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on authenticity," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rickly, Jillian M., 2022. "A review of authenticity research in tourism: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on authenticity," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Huang, Xin & Yang, Yong & Liu, Siming & Wang, Jing, 2026. "Does ‘the real’ matter? Technological affordances and Generation Z’s experience of authenticity in heritage games," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    3. Pedro Guimarães, 2022. "Tourism and Authenticity: Analyzing Retail Change in Lisbon City Center," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Rickly, Jillian & Canavan, Brendan, 2024. "The emergence of authenticity: Phases of tourist experience," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    5. Lankyung Kim & Chul Jeong, 2025. "Food Souvenir Authenticity and the Process of Emergence: The Case of Nougat Cracker Syndrome in Taipei, Taiwan," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-16, May.
    6. Brooks, Caitlin & Soulard, Joelle, 2022. "Contested authentication: The impact of event cancellation on transformative experiences, existential authenticity at burning man," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    7. Martens, Hanno & Jarvis, Nigel & Weeden, Clare, 2025. "Conceptualising tourist experience as Gadamerian Erfahrung," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. Vegas-Macias, Jordi, 2025. "Social contact and value co-creation practices. Tourist–resident encounters and urban cycling in Copenhagen," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    9. Jiyoung Hwang & Hyo-Yeun Park, 2021. "Hermeneutic Phenomenological Understanding of the Inner Journey of Templestay," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-18, July.
    10. Soulard, Joelle & Russell, Zachary, 2025. "Visitors' cognitive vaccines: Self-reflection on dissonant narratives after heritage tourism experiences," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    11. Malaia, Cristina-Mirabela & Diaconescu, Vlad & Mocanu, Daniela-Elena, 2025. "Developing a value-responsive quality culture in Romanian hotel chains," CACTUS – Journal of Tourism Business, Management and Economics, ASE Publishing House, vol. 7(2), December.
    12. Antonia Canosa & Heike Schänzel, 2021. "The Role of Children in Tourism and Hospitality Family Entrepreneurship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-14, November.
    13. Torabi, Zabih-Allah & Rezvani, Mohammad Reza & Hall, C. Michael & Allam, Zaheer, 2023. "On the post-pandemic travel boom: How capacity building and smart tourism technologies in rural areas can help - evidence from Iran," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    14. Murthi, Srinivash & Zhang, Wen & Shaturaev, Jakhongir, 2023. "Role of Tourism in Ensuring Gender Equity: An Asian Perspective," MPRA Paper 118486, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Jun 2023.
    15. Heather Kennedy-Eden & Ulrike Gretzel, 2021. "My heritage in my pocket: mobile device and app use by genealogy tourists," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 327-350, September.
    16. Lingxiao Bai & Shixiu Weng, 2023. "New Perspective of Cultural Sustainability: Exploring Tourism Commodification and Cultural Layers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-22, June.
    17. Samaniego-Chávez, Carla Estefanía & Shi, Fangfang & Khamidullin, Takhir, 2025. "What makes online tours authentic? A semiotic analysis," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    18. Kahana, Netta, 2024. "Providing a platform for self-transformation: Existential authentication and the inward gaze," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    19. Nørfelt, Astrid & Kock, Florian & Filep, Sebastian, 2025. "Tourism psychology: Past, present, and future," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    20. Qiu, XuDong (Oliver) & Cohen, Scott & Skinner, Jonathan, 2026. "Sexual non-monogamy in tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:113:y:2025:i:c:s0160738325000866. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/annals-of-tourism-research/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.