DISSERTATION / DOCTORAL THESIS Mediating The
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DISSERTATION / DOCTORAL THESIS Mediating the Post Colony of Mainland Southeast Asia from Henry Mouhot to Lonely Planet and Contemporary Online Accounts An Exploration of Geographies of Identity, Power and Imagination in Exploration Writing, Popular Guidebooks and Travelblogs verfasst von / submitted by Mag. Felix Magnus Bergmeister angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doktor der Philosophie (Dr. Phil.) Wien / Vienna 2018 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 796 310 452 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Dissertationsgebiet lt. Studienblatt / Geographie field of study as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Ao. Univ-Prof. Mag. Dr. Karl Husa Table of Contents 1. General Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 2. Perspectives on Tourism – Concepts, Disciplinary Concerns and Current Issues ............................... 4 2.1. The Dimensions of Modern Tourism ................................................................................................ 4 2.2. Definitions and Approaches to Tourism in Current Research .......................................................... 6 2.3. A Cultural Economy Lens ................................................................................................................ 13 3. Tourism Discourse, Travel Writing and the Discursive Construction of the Other ........................... 14 3.1. The Scientific and Ideological Mission of Travel Writing – Shaping the Colonial World ................ 21 3.2. Carl Linne’s Systema Natura – Writing the Story of Nature ........................................................... 23 3.3. Charles de La Condamine – Measuring the Planet ......................................................................... 24 3.4. Henry Morton Stanley – The Self‐fashioning of the Imperial Action Hero .................................... 25 3.5. The Birth of Modern Tourism ‐ From Imperial Adventures to Elegant Power ............................... 32 4. The Social Construction of Space: Discourse, Hegemony and Language .......................................... 36 4.1. Tourism and Spatialisation ............................................................................................................. 39 4.2. State of the Art and Conceptual Foundations ................................................................................ 40 5. Methodology and Research Design ................................................................................................... 47 5.1. Critical Discourse Analysis .............................................................................................................. 50 5.2. Analysis and Heuristics ................................................................................................................... 52 5.2.1. Ideologies and Topics .................................................................................................................. 53 5.2.2. Social Actors ................................................................................................................................ 54 5.2.3. Actions ......................................................................................................................................... 55 5.2.4. Argumentation ............................................................................................................................ 55 5.2.5. Topoi ............................................................................................................................................ 57 5.2.6. Historicity of Discourse ................................................................................................................ 58 5.2.7. Census, Maps and Museum ........................................................................................................ 60 5.3. Corpus............................................................................................................................................. 61 5.3.1. Historical Texts ............................................................................................................................ 62 5.3.2. Lonely Planet & Independent Travel Blogs ................................................................................. 64 5.4. Critical Discourse Analysis and Critique ......................................................................................... 70 5.5. Mainland Southeast Asia ................................................................................................................ 71 5.6. Framework of Analysis ................................................................................................................... 76 6. Analysis of Historical Texts ................................................................................................................ 77 6.1. Women Writers of the 19th Century ............................................................................................... 79 6.2. Henri Mouhot Vol I & II .................................................................................................................. 85 6.2.1. The Self‐fashioning of Colonial Mouhot ...................................................................................... 92 6.2.2. Constructing Territory – From Bangkok to the ‘Others’ .............................................................. 95 6.2.3. Mouhot’s Protean Civilization Frontier ..................................................................................... 113 6.2.4. Discourses at Play ..................................................................................................................... 115 6.2.4.1. Census .................................................................................................................................... 117 6.2.4.2. Maps ....................................................................................................................................... 119 6.2.4.3. Museum.................................................................................................................................. 120 6.2.4.4. Discourse Topics and Discourse Positions .............................................................................. 121 6.3. Imperial Guidebooks .................................................................................................................... 125 6.3.1 Discourses at Play ....................................................................................................................... 143 6.3.1.1. Census .................................................................................................................................... 144 6.3.1.2. Maps ....................................................................................................................................... 146 6.3.1.3. Museum.................................................................................................................................. 147 6.3.1.4. Discourse Topics and Discourse Positions .............................................................................. 148 6.4. Resulting Historical Discourses ..................................................................................................... 151 7. Travelling the Post Colony – Modern Sources and Conceptual Issues ............................................ 155 7.1. Lonely Planet: From Ethical Adventures to the Discovery of the ‘Real’ ....................................... 158 7.2. Three Contemporary Tourism Myths in Lonely Planet ................................................................ 166 7.2.1. Oriental Cluster – Myth of the Unchanged ............................................................................... 167 7.2.2. Sand and Sea Cluster – Myth of the Unrestrained .................................................................... 171 7.2.3. Frontier Cluster – Myth of the Uncivilized. ............................................................................... 175 7.3. Countries at a Glance: Tracing Modern Tourism Myths in Lonely Planet and Blogs ................... 180 7.3.1.a. Thailand (LP) ........................................................................................................................... 181 7.3.1.b. Thailand (Blogs) ...................................................................................................................... 186 7.3.2. The Former Indochina States – Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam ................................................. 193 7.3.2.a. Laos (LP) .................................................................................................................................. 193 7.3.2.b. Laos (Blogs) ............................................................................................................................. 197 7.3.3.a. Cambodia (LP) ......................................................................................................................... 202 7.3.3.b. Cambodia (Blogs) ................................................................................................................... 209 7.3.4.a. Vietnam (LP) ........................................................................................................................... 218 7.3.4.b. Vietnam (Blogs) .....................................................................................................................