The Exotic Veil: Managing tourist perceptions of national history and statehood in Oman.

Click here to view record
Main author: Causevic, Senija
Other authors: Neal, Mark
Format: Journal Article           
Online access: Click here to view record


id eprints-29927
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic H Social Sciences (General)
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
description This article explores how and why some national governments seek to manage and control tourist-oriented narratives about historic sites and artefacts. Discussing ethnographic research among tour guides, tourists and government representatives in Oman, the paper reveals how the country's historic sites are overwhelmingly staged and presented without historical information. Instead, history is displaced by sanitised presentations of cultural heritage, the display of which draws an "exotic veil", crafted to enchant and deflect tourist attention from politically sensitive historical events and legacies. The study examines reasons for this policy, and its implications for tourists and those working in the tourism industry. Many of Oman's tour guides and site representatives are from marginalised groupings, experiencing inequalities due to historical family, tribal and former slave status. The state-sustained exotic veil on history means that such workers are obliged to collude in denying the historical reasons for their own experiences of injustice and inequality.
format Journal Article
author Causevic, Senija
author_facet Causevic, Senija
Neal, Mark
authorStr Causevic, Senija
author_letter Causevic, Senija
author2 Neal, Mark
author2Str Neal, Mark
title The Exotic Veil: Managing tourist perceptions of national history and statehood in Oman.
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2019
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29927/

Similar items