Authenticity and authentication is at the heart of museums concerns in displays objects and interaction with visitors These notions have formed a central element in early thought on culture and collecting Nineteenth century explorers commissioned museum collectors and pioneering ethnographers attempted to lay bare the essences of cultures through collecting and studying objects from distant communities Comparably historical archaeology departed from the idea that cultures were discrete bounded entities subject to divergence but precisely therefore also to be traced back and linked to a more complete original form in de even deeper past Much of what we work with today in ethnographic museum collections testifies to that conviction Post structural thinking brought about a far reaching deconstruction of the authentic It came to be recognized that both far away communities and the deep past can only be discussed when seen as desires constructions and inventions Notwithstanding this undressing of the ways in which people portray their cultural surroundings and past claims of authenticity and quests for authentication remain omnipresent This book explores the authentic in contemporary ethnographic museums as it persists in dialogues with stakeholders and how museums portray themselves How do we interact with questions of authenticity and authentication when we curate study artefacts collect repatriate and make re presentations The contributing authors illustrate the divergent nature in which the authentic is brought into play deconstructed and operationalized Authenticity the book argues is an expression of a desire that is equally troubled as it is resilient