World expos, World's fairs, Expositions as mega-events: an ephemeral incarnation of a total social fact?

Les expositions universelles et internationales comme des méga-événements: une incarnation éphémère d'un fait social total?

Patrice Ballester

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Abstract: Global metropolises are diversifying their urban policy by organizing mega-events allowing the creation, promotion and enhancement of fair complexes. The world expo, world's fair, Exhibitions arise from this logic in the same way as the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2014 football world championships in Brazil. What are the lasting effects of a fleeting event? Based on the notion of a total social fact according to Marcel Mauss, associated with a field survey for Zaragoza 2008 Expo and an analysis of the application file for São Paulo 2020 Expo, these mega-events embody both a truncated humanist message in bringing the whole world together through reductive mass tourism, but also a means of communication and dissemination of a national culture and technical know-how on a global scale. The power of the event and its propaganda amplify the criticism of these thwarted utopias.

Keywords: sustainability; world expo; world's fair; ephemeral; total social fact; tourism; São Paulo; Zaragoza; durabilité; exposition universelle; foire mondiale; éphémère; fait social total; tourisme; Saragosse; sustentabilidade; exposição mundial; feira mundial; efêmero; fato social total; turismo; Saragoça (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-12
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Published in Horizontes Antropológicos, 2013, 19 (40), pp.253-281. ⟨10.1590/S0104-71832013000200010⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04246901

DOI: 10.1590/S0104-71832013000200010

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