In the era of online business, digital devices, and electric books, bricks-and-mortar bookshops are in decline. Although the future of physical bookstores has received much anecdotal attention, little examination has occurred in the academic context. With a specific focus on the development of a comprehensive understanding of bookstore experiences, this research employs more-than-representational theory in order to conceptualise the ‘operational logics’ of bookstore experience. Through an ethnographic investigation of Eslite, one of the leading bookstore chains in Taiwan, this thesis argues that in order to thrive and sustain its bookselling business Eslite bookstores are produced as experiencescapes through performance. In these experiencescapes, consumers act as creative artisans who are able to re-configure any given situation, enacting countless possibilities through their embodied practices. Likewise, I suggest that cultural meanings, values, and ideological thoughts are connected to these embodied practices, spaces, identities and lifestyle through consumers’ book experiences. In addressing how practice constantly engages with corporate plans, cultural meanings, identities, and personal ways of life, this thesis contributes to wider debates on the processes of how the (more than) representational is presented and performed, and therefore invites researchers to develop a greater sensitivity to ‘doing’ geographies of consumption and spatial practices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:629859 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Yu, Hui-Yu |
| Publisher | Cardiff University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://orca.cf.ac.uk/67997/ |
Page generated in 0.0017 seconds