ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses ways to overcome representation problems that occur as an extension of the notion of culture that 'anthropological distinction between self and Other rests on it'. It examines problems that occur in tourism and approaches developed in response to them. The chapter discusses the ‘forms of others’ encountered as a consequence or a trigger of tourism activities. It offers a framework that may help researchers to prevent negative connotations of culture, through Abu-Lughod’s suggestions, and developments in tourism studies. ‘The crisis of representation’ shifted attention to the multiplicity of ontological, epistemological and axiological revolutions in a way that is just compatible with the crumbling nature of postmodern reality. Abu-Lughod argues that there are variant mechanisms that enable discourses and structures of power to operate in the field. Building on Foucault, she grasps discourse as a concept that is ‘meant to refuse distinction between ideas and practices or text and world that the culture concept too readily encourages’.