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Title Auto and Hetero-Stereotypes in Travelogues on Pakistan: A Lingvoimagological Study

Author(s) RAFIA ZAFAR

Abstract The language used in tourist travelogues is a site of national stereotypes formed against the character of a country. Travelogues on Pakistan are discourses of representation that reveal such national stereotypes through which international tourists build an image of Pakistani nation and her national character. These discourses are informed by a writer’s political ideology as they are replete with stereotypes about the destination country (hetero-stereotypes). What is described in a travelogue is always a difference; in what aspects a target nation is different from your own. As travelogues are written for a worldwide audience, so it becomes significant to find out what are the images that are presented internationally of a particular nation. The present study aims at identifying the auto and hetero-stereotypes in travelogues on Pakistan by different foreign writers. The research also draws comparisons among the perceptions of the three writers regarding Pakistan and its people. Three travelogues which are written by an American, Australian and Scottish writer have been selected for the present study. The data was chosen through an online store named Amazon, Inc. while using purposive sampling technique. The study uses qualitative approach to conduct analyses of the travelogues. Van Dijk’s ideological square model (1998) is employed to carry out discourse analysis of the selected sections of the travelogues in the light of Leerssen’s Imagological framework. The findings reveal that travelogues about Pakistan frequently stereotype and exoticize Pakistan and its people. There is consensus among foreign writers about Pakistan regarding the absence of women in Pakistan, a sense of fear for one’s life, views about landscape/cityscape, self vs other distinction, and religion. The authors lack an awareness and an acknowledgement of cultural divergence. It is important to understand that such discourses as travelogues evolve into the sources of disinformation and strengthen the already existing stereotypes about the character of a nation.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2022-11-08

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