Hidden and Covert. Colonial Ideology in the Contemporary Tourist Imaginary
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2025.23.039Keywords:
Tourist Imaginary, Orientalist Art, Colonialism, Imperialism, MaghrebAbstract
The brutal process of colonization of North Africa by the French in the 19th century paradoxically boosted the opening of dominated territories to Tourism. France of the period abounds in works by Orientalist painters who portrayed the colonies as picturesque and exotic places, but simultaneously backward and full of “barbarian”, “apathetic” and “bestial” inhabitants. We have a double objective with this essay: on the one hand, to demonstrate how Orientalist works of art, despite their irrefutable aesthetic qualities, materialized and propagated negative and stereotypical Tourist Imaginaries about North Africa. On the other hand, unveil how this colonial ideology, inherent to Orientalism, remains present in the Contemporary Tourist Imaginary about the former North African colonies. To achieve this purpose, we use different research methods, including the study of period primary sources (texts and images), as well as the accurate reading of current sources as a theoretical basis for reflection.
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