Abstract
This chapter offers a deeper understanding of the symbols and meanings attached to tourists’ special possessions as well as of the functions they fulfill in contemporary consumption. Nineteen informants have been interviewed and observed at home in a naturalistic interpretive perspective. Interview transcripts, field notes, and pictorial material were analyzed and interpreted through the grounded theory approach. This results in a new typology of symbolic souvenirs including touristic trinkets, destination stereotypes, paper mementoes, and picked-up objects. Such a typology relates to four major functions souvenirs may fulfill in terms of meanings and identity construction, that is, categorization, self-expression, connectedness, and self-creation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Tourists' Behaviors and Evaluations |
| Subtitle of host publication | Advances in Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research |
| Editors | Arch G Woodside, Metin Kozak |
| Publisher | Emerald Group |
| Pages | 31-39 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |