After the Wiesn is before the Wiesn: Visitor Experiences and Meaning-Making at Munich’s Oktoberfest
(2026) SMMP40 20261Department of Service Studies
- Abstract
- This thesis explores how the heterotopic and liminal dimensions of Munich’s Oktoberfest produced differentiated visitor experiences, and how spatial, temporal, ritual, and social dynamics mediate feelings of authenticity, communitas, and belonging across visitor types. Adopting an interpretivist, social constructionist approach, the thesis combines semi-structured interviews with 15 participants and covert participant observation at the 2025 festival. Analysis reveals Wiesn as a heterotopic space full of contradictions: simultaneously an authentic folk festival and commercialized spectacle, a site of liberation and stratification. While embodied rituals, collective emotions, and temporal rhythms foster extraordinary experiences and... (More)
- This thesis explores how the heterotopic and liminal dimensions of Munich’s Oktoberfest produced differentiated visitor experiences, and how spatial, temporal, ritual, and social dynamics mediate feelings of authenticity, communitas, and belonging across visitor types. Adopting an interpretivist, social constructionist approach, the thesis combines semi-structured interviews with 15 participants and covert participant observation at the 2025 festival. Analysis reveals Wiesn as a heterotopic space full of contradictions: simultaneously an authentic folk festival and commercialized spectacle, a site of liberation and stratification. While embodied rituals, collective emotions, and temporal rhythms foster extraordinary experiences and recollective value, communitas is mediated by forms of capital and by gender. The central theoretical contribution is the concept of stratified communitas, which challenges the universalizing language of liminality theory, particularly its neglect of gender as a structural mediator of liminal experiences. The Five-Loop Model of Festival Visitor Experiences is proposed to represent how visitors experience and make meaning at festivals. Findings contribute to debates on authenticity, belonging, and identity in festival and tourism studies, with practical implications for inclusive festival design. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Festivals are viewed as liberating spaces where ordinary structures loosen and people celebrate together. Yet research rarely explains why these experiences differ between visitors. Munich’s annual Oktoberfest is a rich case where tradition, global branding, and social tensions intersect. This thesis examines how visitors navigate the festival’s spatial, temporal, ritual, and social dynamics. Interviews and participant observation show that while Oktoberfest creates the conditions for extraordinary experiences, access to them is uneven. Gender, familiarity, safety, and different forms of capital shape who feels included, free, or represented. The findings also reveal how visitors negotiate contradictions, as Oktoberfest is commercial yet... (More)
- Festivals are viewed as liberating spaces where ordinary structures loosen and people celebrate together. Yet research rarely explains why these experiences differ between visitors. Munich’s annual Oktoberfest is a rich case where tradition, global branding, and social tensions intersect. This thesis examines how visitors navigate the festival’s spatial, temporal, ritual, and social dynamics. Interviews and participant observation show that while Oktoberfest creates the conditions for extraordinary experiences, access to them is uneven. Gender, familiarity, safety, and different forms of capital shape who feels included, free, or represented. The findings also reveal how visitors negotiate contradictions, as Oktoberfest is commercial yet meaningful, controlled yet liberating, and a distorted reflection of Bavarian culture that still feels authentic. The proposed Five‑Loop Model illustrates how these dynamics lead to extraordinary experiences that endure in memory and anticipation. These insights can guide festival design that makes meaningful participation more widely accessible. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9243142
- author
- Hickey, Saffron Georgia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SMMP40 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Festivals, Heterotopia, Liminality, Extraordinary experiences, Communitas, Affective value, Authenticity.
- language
- English
- id
- 9243142
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-25 09:25:55
- date last changed
- 2026-06-25 09:25:55
@misc{9243142,
abstract = {{This thesis explores how the heterotopic and liminal dimensions of Munich’s Oktoberfest produced differentiated visitor experiences, and how spatial, temporal, ritual, and social dynamics mediate feelings of authenticity, communitas, and belonging across visitor types. Adopting an interpretivist, social constructionist approach, the thesis combines semi-structured interviews with 15 participants and covert participant observation at the 2025 festival. Analysis reveals Wiesn as a heterotopic space full of contradictions: simultaneously an authentic folk festival and commercialized spectacle, a site of liberation and stratification. While embodied rituals, collective emotions, and temporal rhythms foster extraordinary experiences and recollective value, communitas is mediated by forms of capital and by gender. The central theoretical contribution is the concept of stratified communitas, which challenges the universalizing language of liminality theory, particularly its neglect of gender as a structural mediator of liminal experiences. The Five-Loop Model of Festival Visitor Experiences is proposed to represent how visitors experience and make meaning at festivals. Findings contribute to debates on authenticity, belonging, and identity in festival and tourism studies, with practical implications for inclusive festival design.}},
author = {{Hickey, Saffron Georgia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{After the Wiesn is before the Wiesn: Visitor Experiences and Meaning-Making at Munich’s Oktoberfest}},
year = {{2026}},
}