Elena Maydell – Massey University of New Zealand<\/p>\n
Keywords<\/strong><\/p>\n Aboriginal identity, Indigenous heritage, Australian and New Zealand national tourism campaigns, cultural appropriation, visual discourse<\/p>\n Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n The purpose of this paper is to analyse the visual representation of identities of minority (Indigenous) cultures juxtaposed to the majority one\/s in promotional tourism videos on YouTube. This study follows the \u201cliquid\u201d conceptualisation of culture proposed by Bauman (2011) and aims at deconstructing the essentialised representations of cultural identities, bringing together the scholarship in postcolonial studies, critical cultural studies, intercultural communication, and critical public relations. While the discourse of a \u201cwhite man\u2019s mission\u201d in bringing \u2018culture\u2019 to \u2018uncultured\u2019 populations of colonised societies is no longer a part of common parlance (Bauman, 2011), the construction of cultural identities of non-white populations is often still rooted in the Eurocentric perspective of engagement with the \u2018exotic\u2019 Other, aimed at exaggerating the differences between these identities. The language of binary oppositions (Hall, 1997) is then deployed by power structures to assert the right of domination over those whose identities are degraded and marginalised. Scherer (2013) argues that the power relations in neo-colonial societies allow for \u2018Cultures\u2019 of production, where the Indigenous symbols and rituals are commodified and mythologised to represent national identity as embracing the culture of the Indigenous people. This \u201ccommercial trading of the Other clearly has deep roots in colonialism and conquest\u201d (p. 55). Accordingly, only selective, specifically fitting the Eurocentric perspective, images and symbols are harnessed for commercial gain, often criticised for their \u201cpseudo-historical depthlessness and superficiality\u201d (p. 50), while at the same time reproducing \u201ca stereotypic discourse of racial primitivism\u201d (Hokowhitu, 2005, cited in Scherer, 2013, p. 49). Scherer argues that instead of broader education about Indigenous cultures and promotion of respect for their values and traditions, the commercialisation of Indigenous knowledge facilitates \u2018cultural heritage tourism\u2019, where \u2018exotic\u2019 imaginary is used to construct \u201cracialised spectacles of consumption\u201d (p. 44), in order to bring more international visitors and more profit to tourism providers.To satisfy the desire of wealthy tourists for \u2018exotic\u2019 locales and \u2018unspoiled\u2019 scenery, some Australian and New Zealand organisations engage in exploiting the Indigenous imagery and heritage. This study analyses the visual discourses (mis)representing Indigenous people in Australian and New Zealand tourism campaigns, including the Australian campaign Where the Bloody Hell Are You?, Air New Zealand and Qantas safety videos and advertising.The Australian campaign Where the Bloody Hell Are You? contains 11 video segments depicting popular tourist destinations. The last segment shows a group of Aboriginal dancers, with one of them saying, \u201cWe\u2019ve been rehearsing for over 40,000 years\u201d \u2013 as if still waiting to be \u2018discovered\u2019 by (white) visitors and then, at last, be able to perform. The visual representation of virtually naked Aboriginal bodies with white paint markings, in a desert environment, with no signs of \u2018civilisation\u2019 present, is contrasted to other segments showing (clothed) white Australians across cities, beaches and other locations representing a \u2018cultured\u2019 life (Bauman, 2011). Similar degrading constructions of cultural identities of the Australian Aboriginal people are recycled in Qantas safety videos and advertising materials. The Air New Zealand safety video Safety in Paradise engaged Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models to promote tourism to the Cook Islands, a small semi-independent Pacific nation. In one of the shots, three local men, paddling a wooden boat and wearing no clothes other than leaves and the traditional cloth around their hips, are juxtaposed to European-looking and dressed in \u2018modern\u2019 clothes models and airline crew members; again creating the image of \u2018wild savages\u2019 awaiting their discovery (and consequent emancipation) by \u2018civilised\u2019 white people. This campaign caused an outrage on social media and was heavily criticised for objectifying women. The depiction of the models in bikinis and their mannerisms were considered sexist and demeaning, and following a petition of an Australian woman, Air New Zealand removed it from the in-flight use. It received a lot of media attention, with one New Zealand academic slamming the airline for producing highly sexualised images of women (Chapman, 2014). However, the culturally insensitive depiction of the Indigenous people, as primitive and savages, was not discussed in any critical media reports on the video.The identity constructions deployed for promoting international tourism to Australia and New Zealand entail virulent commodification of Indigenous imagery and heritage that are (mis)appropriated to enhance the \u2018exotic\u2019 view on Indigenous people and entice international tourists to \u2018go native\u2019. The analysis demonstrates the exaggeration of the differences between the majority (white) and minority (Indigenous) cultural identities, contributing to essentialising these cultural forms. Thus, the production and recycling of simplified and degrading images of Indigenous people solidify their marginalisation and facilitate the neo-colonialist agenda focused on the Eurocentric fantasy of \u2018noble savages\u2019.<\/p>\n Selected Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n Bauman, Z. (2011). Culture in a liquid modern world. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.