Rolf Potts

“Staged authenticity” is a term coined by anthropologists to describe how, within the tourist economy, indigenous people perform a version of their culture that caters to the expectations of tradition-obsessed outsiders. My visit to northern Kenya this summer reminded me how complex and savvy displays of indigenous traditions can be — often mixing ancient cultural…

This image, taken a few years ago at the Go Viral festival, a SXSW-style “influencer” gathering in Kazakhstan, evokes an anecdote I share on page 166 of The Vagabond’s Way. I had been invited to Almaty to talk about digital nomadism and travel storytelling to the assembled audience of Central Asian artists and entrepreneurs. Since…