ABSTRACT
Taking the above three definitions together, we now see that representation is clearly a cultural process. Bearing in mind too that ‘representation’ also means to speak or campaign for something else, then we may say that it is also a political process. To elaborate, one function of culture is that it is the framework through which the real world is experienced, and intrinsic to that framework are ideas about the social order and about who possesses power. We deal with such issues further in Chapter 3, but in the meantime it is worth noting that any representation can be viewed as much as an expression of power as of culture. It is something that contains important messages about those who produced it and about the interests of the people for whom the representation was being designed. When read carefully, a representation may say much about whose views and values are accepted as valid or true, and whose interests are marginalised or even simply not represented.
