Dissertation Abstracts
The European view of Brazil: from the exotization of paradise to the commodification of tourism
Author: Lélian Silveira, lelian.silveira@hotmail.com
Department: Department of Languages and Cultures
University: University of Aveiro , Portugal
Supervisor: Maria Manuel Baptista
Year of completion: In progress
Language of dissertation: Portuguese
Areas of Research: Communication, Knowledge and Culture , Tourism, International
Abstract
Postcolonial theories have been applied and adapted to multiple discursive orders, given the power relations over which they express themselves, in varied forms, in the most diverse social contexts. In the field of tourism, postcolonial theory has contributed as an analytical support tool to the studies of imagery and textual representations used in the promotion and dissemination of tourist destinations. This is because the promotional language used in the representation of peripheral countries, even in a subtle way, contributes to the maintenance of colonial ideology and power estrutures. In the case of Brazil, the narratives used in the construction of the countrys images are part of the relationships built over the centuries between the country and other people. Considering the importance of studies on the representation of Brazil and the relevance of the theme related to the exotization and commodification of the Other established by tourism, this study aims to investigate the image of Brazil in written and visual texts used in tourist brochures collected from travel agencies in the top five European countries sending tourists to Brazil - Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal - in the years corresponding to the seasons 2012/2013 and 2014/2015. Regarding the representation of Brazil in the analyzed brochures, the country is represented by three different cartographies or imaginative cultural landscapes: rural culture and natural landscape, urban culture and, also, a human social dimension. In addition, each of the imaginative cartographies found in the analyzed corpus provides a set of references responsible for the characterization of the destinations.