ERIC Number: EJ1221122
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1479-0718
EISSN: N/A
Discursive Representations of Difference and Multilingualism in "Himalaya with Michael Palin"
International Journal of Multilingualism, v16 n3 p226-243 2019
In this article, I discuss how mediatised tourism constructs various discourses of othering through representations of the 'tourist self' vis-à-vis the 'local other'. In order to do so, I analyze a six-hour travelogue "Himalaya with Michael Palin" broadcast by the BBC in 2004. The analysis shows that despite the forces of globalisation that have made national and cultural boundaries more porous than ever before, common stereotypes about otherness continue to shape the experience of travel narratives at present. While the liberal discourses used in the travelogue appear to celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity of the world, they simultaneously reproduce the moral superiority of the West when the traveller is presented as an authority to give the judgmental accounts of otherness under the guise of equality and tolerance. "Himalaya with Michael Palin" as a form of mediatised tourism does in fact invoke cultural stereotypes to commodify local authenticities, languages, and identities in order to make the travelogue a 'good' TV programme.
Descriptors: Tourism, Multilingualism, Programming (Broadcast), Stereotypes, Cultural Differences, Travel, Television, Discourse Analysis, Cultural Pluralism, Moral Values, Prosocial Behavior, Western Civilization, Commercialization, Second Languages, Self Concept, Foreign Countries, Mass Media Effects
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Pakistan; India; Nepal; China; Bhutan; Bangladesh
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A