Impersonation in ethnic tourism - The presentation of culture by other ethnic groups

Adopting Goffman's (1959) theories about presentation in daily life, this paper discusses the use of the culture of marginalised peoples whose very marginality forms the focus and subject of a tourist gaze and tourism development. This paper (a) examines to what extent Goffman's theory (1959) regarding presentation of self in daily life can be applied in discussing commercial cultural performance, and (b) explores the operational mechanism of impersonation in multi-ethnic communities. The discussion is based in an ethnic community, Xinjiang, China where the first author resided for a year for fieldwork. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted in this study. Sociological theory, anthropological research method and management practice are all involved and the implications for both theory and practice are discussed.