Reflecting Images:

Parade of diversity: Representations of places and identities of Indonesia through tourism brochures

“…In this research project, we were able to capture the ways in which municipal/regency governments in Indonesia interpret their own tourism spectacles, commodities and identities as a parade of diversity. In this parade, the representation of different identities of the place and people is exhibited as a spectacle in the media using a uniform and narrow way without an understanding of what diversity in the place should mean (Hunter 2012;Gunnarsdóttir 2011;Nicolleta and Servidio 2012). As a further contribution, this research also complicates the selection of representations and the choices about ways of depicting places and people that may include and exclude others (Feighery 2011;Alderman and Modlin 2013;Benjamin et al 2020).…”

“…Tourism brochures have been commonly used as the communicative and cultural media to represent the complexity of commercial aspect and identities of places, regions and countries. 'Ways of seeing' in tourism brochures have shaped tourism experiences of places and nations (Urry 2002;Alderman and Modlin 2013;Gunnarsdóttir 2011). Photographic images in tourism brochures are one way to see society, to interpret reality and to show perspectives on history and identity (Jokela 2014).…”

“…Photographic images in tourism brochures are one way to see society, to interpret reality and to show perspectives on history and identity (Jokela 2014). Many communication, cultural and media scholars have focused on photographic images since they can show iconic places or people (Hunter 2012;Cronin 2011), demonstrate experiences (Gunnarsdóttir 2011), present natural beauty (Svobodova et al 2017) and construct expectations through both affective and cognitive approaches (Murti 2020b;Nicolleta and Servidio 2012). More than that, the ways in which photographic images are constructed have received attention from scholars due to the selections of representative images of place and people that may include and exclude others (Feighery 2011;Alderman and Modlin 2013;Benjamin et al 2020).…”