Mediating India - An analysis of a guidebook

The paper presents a semiotic analysis of the most popular of the guidebooks to India, published by Lonely Planet. An analysis of this text and accompanying photographs reveal an emphasis on India's ''past glory'' and ''exotic present''. Furthermore, indigenous Indians are present in the text either as middlemen providing tourism services or as tourees, objects of tourist sightseeing interest. In this regard, the analysis concludes that this guidebook serves a primary function as mediating tourists' experiences in India in ways that reinforce both certain images of India and certain relationships with indigenous inhabitants. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.