Representation of India: an empirical study of Western tourist material
2016 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
This thesis aims to describe how Western tourist websites represents India. Although there has been much research on tourism and Western representation of India, no literature is available on how Western tourist websites represents India. This thesis uses three theories, social constructivism, post-colonial theory, and representation theory. Social constructivism is the base for this thesis. Post-colonial theory is used to find out whether the representation of India includes colonial stereotypes or no. Moreover, the representation theory is the center and the main tool to know and explain how Western tourist websites represents India. The design used is a 'case study' as case study design is compatible to explore the representations of India. The method used is a 'qualitative discourse analysis' which helps to provide a critical analysis of the description of India. Main results of this thesis are that Western tourist websites describe Indian economy as a backward economy. It is unclear whether Indian politics is described as undemocratic or democratic. Indian people are described as a mix of traditional, modern, unfree as well as free people. Indian culture is described as ancient and collective.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. , p. 65
Keywords [en]
social constructivism, post-colonial theory, representation theory, India, Western tourist websites
National Category
Political Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-9582Local ID: EIS501OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hv-9582DiVA, id: diva2:948901
Subject / course
Political science
Educational program
International Programme in Politics and Economics
Supervisors
Examiners
2016-08-122016-07-142017-08-21Bibliographically approved