ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some key theoretical elements in order to frame and to interpret the politics of city branding. It describes the Foucauldian concept of governmentality. The chapter introduces Jacques Ranciere's idea of the 'partition of the sensible', and focuses on visibility, invisibility and violence through the mobilisation of the metaphor of the ghost. It discusses the provocative idea of a collective 'right to the brand', which may be potentially claimed by the inhabitants of the city. In order to develop critical analysis of city branding and city brands, it is important not just to focus on what is visible in promotional representations, because the invisible and the untold may be important as well. In general, dark tourism often implies forms of branding that build on representations of violence, but it is important to stress that branding itself may be violent.
