Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change
Editors: Prof. Mike Robinson (Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change, Leeds Metropolitan University) and Dr Alison Phipps (University of Glasgow)
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Volume: 1 Number: 2 Page: 131–149
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Representations of Hosts in Travel Writing: The Guardian Travel Section
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Dariusz Galasinski and Adam Jaworski
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In this paper, we examine representations of hosts to tourist destinations covered in journalistic travel reports published in the Travel Section of the Saturday edition of the British broadsheet newspaper
The Guardian in 1997. Methodologically, the paper is anchored within the constructionist view of discourse, i.e. we assume that in the linguistic representation of people, places, or events, discursive
choices not only describe the reality but also construct its ideologically preferred version. We demonstrate that in the travel reports examined here, local people tend to be represented in three principal
categories: (1) homogeneous ethnic or social group; (2) observed bearers of the 'national' or 'community' characteristics; or (3) as 'featureless' helpers to the travellers. Arguing that these representations
are constitutive of Foucauldian regimes of truth we propose that the reports are a means of constructing a known and tamed reality that is safe for the readers/prospective tourists to travel to.
Keywords: DISCOURSE, REPRESENTATION, SOCIAL ROLES, TRAVEL WRITING, THE GUARDIAN
© Multilingual Matters 2003
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