I dont believe there is such thing as authentic culture that can be discovered and described, authentic as in essential, or more true. For instance: food. It always puzzles me when people ask me whether Thai food tastes "authentic" or not, as if they judge whether or not hamburgers are "authentic" American. In that case, its either a good burger or bad burger, not a burger that is representative of American culture and cooking. That said, it seems like there are patterns of behavior among localized groups that can be generalized and described, but not as authentic or true.
Now that I'm in England, this is something I've been thinking about. Especially that culture might primarily be a commodity that is sold in souvenir shops, restaurants, sites, and books, or used as a strategy to sell specific commodities. I'm also interested in the ways that history is used to the same ends. London has many "historic" sites, but I wonder to what extent they exist as carefully produced and reproduced commodities. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but its hard for me to get excited about things being authentic or historical when those terms are used primarily as selling strategies.
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I feel like to really get a sense of the history in many places you need to get out of the cities and into the country where people actually do live as close to how their parents and grandparents lived, expect with some modern day extras like internet blablabla. I guess I think of culture as being something like a spirit within common people in a certain area as opposed to particular items you can see, eat, or smell. The tangible things seem, at least to me, to be physical evidence that comes after or as a by product the spirit of the unique personal attributes of the people of a certain region. Common philosophies, loves, and other things distinct to certain groups manifested in simple physical form like particular foods, events, and such. Go to some small villages in England. Try and sneak into village meetings, town dances and so on and so forth. I have distinct memories of going to village meetings as a kid, playing bingo, mixing and mingling with old folks and kids, peoples personalities bubbling with warmth and love and a whole lot of sarcasm, and eating flan. The quality of the flan was not what held the culture. It was the whole experience.
the national gallery is a great place to visit, if you get the chance.
also, real english chips with both colour vinegars + salt = winner
sorry this isn't actually a comment on your post... i did read it.
The great thing about Lynden is that its Dutch heritage is both a commodity AND the real thing!!!!!!! Case in point: Dutch Village Mall. The "Dutch-ness" sells (hello, Treasure Cove) and also is real! I mean, come on, the koi in the canal have real, authentic Dutch names!!!!!
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