The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...

Discourse analysis is defined by Brown and Yule (2003) as “the analysis of language in
use” (p. 1). Discourse analysis encompasses “knowledge about language beyond the
word, clause, phrase and sentence” (Paltridge, 2006, p. 2). The concept of content is
more extensive in discourse analysis than it is in content analysis, hence discourse
analysis is able to provide a more sensitive and in-depth analysis than content analysis
(Wood & Kroger, 2000).
Pritchard and Morgan (2001) used content and discourse analysis of tourist brochures to
identify how the identity of Wales is represented by Welsh tourism marketing bodies.
Ateljevic and Doorne (2002) used discourse analysis to examine images used in tourism
marketing of New Zealand. Their study revealed political processes behind the social
and cultural messages represented in the marketing imagery. A similar study was
conducted by Mellinger (1994) who analysed tourist postcards used in America. By
applying discourse analysis to the photographic postcards, Mellinger was able to
identify hidden racist images of African–Americans. Using content and discourse
analyses, Norton (1996) investigated how tourism marketing in East Africa represented
its culture and nature, and how these images were interpreted by tourists.
Discourse analysis helps identify themes or lack of themes. An important consideration
in discourse analysis is the attention paid to the absence of themes. The absence of
themes, instead of being considered as irrelevant, is viewed in discourse analysis as
possibilities (Potter & Wetherell, 1987). Therefore, lack of themes can be seen as a
powerful tool in investigating hidden messages in tourism information texts and images,
particularly advertising and promotion material. Hannam and Knox (2005) elaborated
on the use of discourse analysis:
Increasing numbers of researchers in the field of tourism studies are
using discourse analysis as a means of critical investigation when
faced with qualitative or textual forms of data, such as written
documents, or visual materials such as photographs and brochures.
Such data is often representative of how a group of people have made
sense of and reflected on their own world and that of others. (p. 23)
Substantiating content analysis with discourse analysis in this research assisted in
identifying the core themes related to food that were presented in the materials and thus
answer the research aims and objectives. Discourse analysis was particularly useful in
understanding the extent to which local culture and the environment were represented in
relation to food in the marketing materials.
54