The Case of Tiziano Terzani`s Culture of Consumption

The Consumption of Culture. The Culture of Consumption
Venice, 16th-17th April 2009
Culture Brand Community:
The Case of Tiziano
Terzani’s Culture of
Consumption
Andrea Moretti
with Elena Bonel, Donata Collodi and Francesco Crisci
Agenda
 Research objectives
 Methodology
 Theoretical foundations
 Results/Findings
 Discussion
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Research objectives (1)
  to present an ethnographic analysis of a subculture of
consumption focused on the enthusiastic and
charismatic figure of Tiziano Terzani (TT and TTSC)
  to address specific methodological implications in
studying subculture of consumption and to refer to the
phenomenon of brand community creation (TTBC)
  to argue in favor of specific “cultural discourse” in
consumer research for understanding:
  the “objects and consumptions patterns with which people (and
 
markets) define themselves in our culture” (Schouten and
McAlexander 1995, 44);
and to remember that “the researcher and the researched move
between a background of shared meaning and a finite foreground of
experience within in” (Joy et al. in Belk 2006, 346)
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Research objectives (2)
This article is part of a pilot study, a detailed
ethnography of Tiziano Terzani literary
phenomenon, by which we wished to identify and
describe different themes connected with
Consumer Culture Theory tradition (Arnould,
Thompson 2005):
  Sub culture of consumption;
  Sub culture and sources of meaning;
  Element of brand community sense-making
  Build and manage brand community and brand
meaning
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Agenda
 Research objectives
 Methodology
 Theoretical foundations
 Results/Findings
 Discussion
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Methodology (1): a consumer-oriented
ethnography. Time line of research
2007
2008
Stage of
Jan May Oct
Jan Mar
ethnographic Non-participant observation
involvement
May
2009
Oct
Jan
Researcher
status
Research
tasks
Personal
involvement
(A)
(B)
“outsiders”:
“tourists” at
events
(1)
(2)
Occasional
readers of
TT’s books
(C)
(D)
“neophites”:
“us” and
“TT’s fans”
(3)
Passionate
about TT’s
books;
(E)
Part-time observ.
(F)
“evolving insiders”:
inquiry during V/L
festival
(4)
(5)
(E)
(F)
“insiders” in culture
of consumption;
“insiders/outsiders”
(6)
Positive SelfConsciousness;
Participants but not
members
(7)
Partially
involved
with
community
Fascination with V/L
Self-Consciousness referrig to V/
The Consumption of Culture. The Culture of Consumption
artistic projects
L project (organizational culture)
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Sep
Full-time ethnography
Different research groups involved (*)
Marker
events
May
(8)
Partially involved
with organization
Time line
6
Methodology (2): time line of research
(complete pilot study)
Marker events:
Research tasks:
A.  Conceptualize project; first
inquiry about V/L organization
and festival project;
1.  Identify and describe V/L’s
organizational culture;
2.  Examine stereotypes and
ideologies; intial interviews
B.  First contact with TT’s culture of
3.  “Revelatory incident”
consumption
C.  Tony Capuozzo and his interview 4.  Descriptive dimensions of TTSC
as “sacred consumption”
(WHY TT in UDINE?)
phenomenon;
D.  Preliminary research phase
5.  TT readers as “research object”;
E.  Naturalistic and survey inquiries
sources of meanings for TTBC
during V/L Festival;
members
F.  Interpretative phases (in
6.  Conceptualize intepretative
dimensions of TTBC
progress)
(*) Research Groups. Universities of Udine and Trento: Naturalistic Inquiry;
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Universities of Udine and Padova: Survey Inquiry
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Methodology (3): ethnographic
procedures
  The cultural sites/contexts of this ethnography are two
artistic projects of vicino/lontano cultural organization
(V/L): the vicino/lontano festival and the Tiziano Terzani
International Literary Prize
  We combine data-collection methods to achieve
representation consistent with informant experience:
  photographic essay of the last three editions (Holbrook 1995),
  internal and public documentations of “V/L” cultural
organization (Stern 1998),
  cultural events video of last two editions of “V/L” Festival,
  press review of last two editions,
  TT’s books, TT’s reportage (Sherry 1995, Kozinets 2001),
  TT’s fans community and online discussion forum, online book
reviews of TT’s readers (Belk 2006);
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credits: tizianoterzani.com
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Tiziano Terzani’s Books
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Tiziano Terzani Biography
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Agenda
 Research objectives
 Methodology
 Theoretical foundations
 Results/Findings
 Discussion
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Theoretical foundations (1)
  A “subculture of consumption” is defined “as a
distinctive subgroup of society that self-select on
the basis of shared commitment to a particular
product class, brand, or consumption
activity” (Schouten, McAlexander 1995);
  In this article the TTSC is informed by the:
 intertextual linkages of cultural objects (i.e., V/L
Festival as a cultural product) (McCracken 1988),
 texts (TT’s books and TT International Literary Prize
winners) (Hirschman, Holbrook 1993),
 and ideologies in consumers’ cultural meanings
systems (TT’s fans) (Kozinets 2001)
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Theoretical foundations (2)
  Descriptive dimensions: the domains of “sacred
consumption” (Belk et al. 1989) in TTSC.
  Places; Times; Tangible Things; Intangible Things;
Persons and Others Beings; Experiences
  Interpretative dimensions: “movement of
meanings” (McCracken 1988) in the TTSC as
processes of sacred consumption (Belk et al. 1989).
  Sacralization processes: ritual; pilgrimage; quintessence;
gift-giving; collecting; inheritance; external sanction;
  Perpetuating Sacredness: separation of sacred from
profane; sustaining rituals; bequets; contamination
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Agenda
 Research objectives
 Methodology
 Theoretical foundations
 Results/Findings
 Discussion
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Movement of meaning in
the TTSC:
Location of meaning
Instrument of
Meaning Transfer
CULTURALLY CONSTITUTED WORLD
Tangible Intangible Persons and
Experiences
Places Times
Things
Things
Others Beings
SACRED CULTURAL PRODUCTS
Ritual,
Pilgrimage,
Sacralization Quintessence,
Gift-Giving,
Processes
Collecting,
Inheritance,
External Sanction
Separation of Sacred
from Profane, Perpetuating
Sustaining Rituals, Sacredness
Bequets,
Contamination
INDIVIDUAL SACRED CONSUMPTION
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Culturally Constituted World
  “Culture” constitutes our phenomenal
world in two ways (McCracken 1988):
  culture is the “lens” through which all
phenomena are seen (“cultural categories” as the
fundamental co-ordinates of meaning, referring to
TT experience as journalist and writer );
  culture is the “blueprint” of human activity
(“cultural principles” consists “in the ideas or value
according to which [TT] cultural phenomena are
organized, evaluated, and constructed”).
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Sacred Cultural Products (1)
Cultural categories of TTSC as the constitutive
dimensions of “sacred consumption”:
  Places. The St. Francis’ Church in Udine during V/L
Festival? But also: the Hanoi Station; the train for the
Chinese border during Saigon freedom; Tiananmen
Square; Amur River, the frontier from URSS and China; the
huts in Himalaya or Orsigna; etc.
  Times. Foundation myths and the history of a community.
The sacred past is associated with nostalgia or with
everyday life: cyclically or episodically during the day (the
press conference announcing prizewinner), week (the
sequence of artistic program during V/L Festival), month
(the announce of a new edition of TT books) and year (the
anniversary of TT death in Orsigna).
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Sacred Cultural Products (2)
Cultural categories of TTSC as the constitutive
dimensions of “sacred consumption”:
  Tangible and Intangible Things. The sacred should
connect “authentically” with TT narratives and the
themes of cultural relations and conflicts in today
globalized world through debates and talks in V/L
Festival.
  Persons and Others Beings. The lives of TT (as journalist
and writer), “take on a sacred character through good
deeds, self-abnegation, sacrifice, martyrdom, and piety”
  Experiences. The prophetic charisma of the TT message,
as correspondent from different tragical theaters of war,
descends from magical power of experience
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Movement of meaning in
the TTSC:
Location of meaning
Instrument of
Meaning Transfer
CULTURALLY CONSTITUTED WORLD
Tangible Intangible Persons and
Experiences
Places Times
Things
Things
Others Beings
SACRED CULTURAL PRODUCTS
Ritual,
Pilgrimage,
Sacralization Quintessence,
Gift-Giving,
Processes
Collecting,
Inheritance,
External Sanction
Separation of Sacred
from Profane, Perpetuating
Sustaining Rituals, Sacredness
Bequets,
Contamination
INDIVIDUAL SACRED CONSUMPTION
© Bonel, Collodi, Crisci, Moretti
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Individual Sacred Consumption (1)
Sacralization processes. “The ways objects and people move
between the sacred and profane realms”:
  Rituals: Reading TT books; on-line community as a non-place
  Pilgrimage: the theme of “journey”; a TT book (or reportage)
as a venerable portolan during the liminal time of vacation
  Quintessence: the “sense of odyssey” or the “escape
journey”
  Gift-giving: TT book as “transcendent guide”
  Collecting: “quotation” is a serious matter for TT readers
  Inheritance: continuous readings in searching for a new
“hermeneutically correct” interpretation; narratives of
“authentic” and “personal” stories;
  External Sanction: discussion concerning “stigma” and “false
stereotypes”
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Individual Sacred Consumption (2)
Perpetuating the sacredness. “Processes to prevent lost of
sacred status, and the practices required to maintain sacredness”:
  Separation of sacred from profane: the book, as profane object,
become sacred by reason of a “ritual transfer of possession”;
  Sustaining rituals: “utopianism” in TTSC is connected with
“stigma” to remark the social sphere of TTSC in which “acceptance
of differences is the norm form us!”.
  Bequets: Why an award dedicated to TT? «What inspires us is the
desire to acknowledge those who demonstrate a willingness to
understand, the willingness to look at the world and at different
cultures with the eyes of a curious child» (Angela, TT wife);
  Contamination: the prizewinner book is “authentic” if it is perceived
to be a reflection of his writer’s future confidence in leading
everyday “journey” of TT readers.
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Agenda
 Research objectives
 Methodology
 Theoretical foundations
 Results/Findings
 Discussion
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Discussion (1): locations of cultural
meaning in TTSC
  Three locations of meaning in the case of TTSC
(culturally constituted world, sacred cultural products and
individual sacred consumption) was identified and
described (McCracken 1988)
  Two moments of meaning transfer connecting three
locations are analyzed (Belk et al. 1989):
  the properties and manifestations of the sacred in cultural
products (places, times, tangible and intangible things,
persons and other beings, experiences);
  and the processes by which consumers sacralize and
desacralize the dimensions of their experiences
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Concluding remarks
The brand “is the principal repository of meaning in
culture consumer, in both a residential and generative
sense” (Sherry 2005)
  Describing “meaning transfer” between constitutive
dimensions in TTSC is only a step to understanding the
brand meaning processes and relationships whitin a bearing
brand community
The evolution of our research program:
  Describe and analyse brand meaning and the sources of
meanings co-generate between cultural organization and
audience to move from “brand equity management” to
“brand meanings management”
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Thank you for the attention!
Andrea Moretti with Donata Collodi and Francesco Crisci
Department of Economics
University of Udine
and with
Elena Bonel
Department of Informatics and Business Management
University of Trento
mailto:[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]
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