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iconography
Illustration by visual images connoting ulterior
reality is known as iconography. In tourism,
promotion icons are mainly pictorial and are
typically found in brochures, pamphlets and maps
�see also promotion, place). A theme such as
nature may be signified by several icons �such as
palm trees, bougainvillaea or giraffes). Some icons,
however, are polysemic: they offer more than one
type of meaning �such as the ocean), thus making
them more difficult to interpret.
identity
GRAHAM M.S. DANN, UK
There are many different aspects of identity
relevant to tourism studies, such as ethnic �see
ethnic group), place, national and cultural
identities. While such a broad term defies a simple
definition, it is clear that identity is more than an
objective notion of someone's essential being.
Rather, identities may be thought of as social
constructions in which individuals' sense of belonging
to some larger group or geographical locale is
in many ways influenced by their social position visaÁ-vis
other individuals and collectivities. Recent
research has increasingly insisted that identity be
regarded not as a given quality one takes for
granted, but as a sense of belonging which is
actively manipulated by individuals according to
their relations with others, relations which are often
structured by larger political or economic forces.
I
Thus, individuals may claim many different
identities at the same time, and may claim different
identities over the course of their lifetime. Such a
voluntaristic approach to identity, however, is often
criticised for downplaying identity-forming attributes
which one cannot always escape, such as
locale, language, race, gender or sexuality. Therefore,
identity perhaps most accurately constitutes a
process whereby these basic attributes serve as a
limited set of `raw materials' for individuals to use
in constructing different senses of belonging to
social groups, locales, lifestyles, nations and so
on.
In tourism studies, it has been common to
discuss identity in terms of tourism's `impact' upon
different kinds of identities. Tourism, for example,
has been shown to play a role in the reconstruction
of ethnic identities, in altering the place identities of
locals in destinations, and even in helping to build
�or in some cases, break down) a sense of national
identity in countries where tourism development
occurs. One of the greatest concerns seems to be
that tourism is capable of creating `false' identities
among host populations, based on `inauthentic'
representations of place or culture �see staged
authenticity). However, it is important to understand
that identities as social constructions are
dynamic and changeable according to changing
social contexts. Tourism is but one of many social
forces which condition one's sense of identity.
Overall, though, such questions have been subject
to more speculation than actual research in the
tourism field, indicating an important direction for
future inquiries into the relationship between
tourism and identity.