2.  A ‘US ethnography’
› A consequence of a family move to Tampa,
Florida, from Jerusalem.
 Furthering my work on tourism and recreation
 On-site visual commercial operations
› cruise ships
› amusement/theme-parks
 Bringing in my background in
› language, discourse and social interaction
› performances and tourism (conceived broadly =
everyday life)
QI 2014 2Neoliberal Looking Glass

3.  Ethnography as a primarily observational method of
inquiry - allows up-close and nuanced recording of
richness of human practice
› Observations in crowded tourist attractions are less about
‘relationships’, ‘experiences’ and ‘community’, and more
about situated conduct and interaction = what is
happening
› critically informed
 The ‘visual turn’ in Tourism Studies
› Was late to arrive
 The Tourist Gaze
› Overemphasized the power of representational visual
media (postcards, brochures, etc.)
› Relatively recently studies have added ethnographic
sensibilities and observations - of practices/performances -
to the traditional analysis of representation
QI 2014 3Neoliberal Looking Glass

4.  I am interested in visual commerce,
produced in and by settings and
technologies, where tourists’ images are
produced and sold back to tourists by
tourist corporations
› not images if Otherness
› not images of tourists by tourists
 At stake are the cultural, social and
economic implications of these visual
commercial operations
QI 2014 4Neoliberal Looking Glass

5. Neoliberal Looking GlassQI 2014 5
Cruise
ship
portraits
Roller
coaster
ride
Prints
Screens
Purchase
Purchase

6. 1. Takes place in enclavic (homogeneous),
highly-disciplined (non)-spaces
2. Devices of production and display of
tourists’/visitors’ visual images are set in
vicinity to each other and in strategic
locations.
› production, reception and consumption are
interconnected and occur in the same place
almost at the same time.
› strategic locations, where tourists must pass
through/by as part of their activity
QI 2014 6Neoliberal Looking Glass

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9. QI 2014 9Neoliberal Looking Glass

10. QI 2014 10Neoliberal Looking Glass

11.  Means and meanings of display
 For instrumental reasons, i.e. efficiency in
managing masses of consumers, images
of tourists are invariably displayed
publically (not privately)
QI 2014 11Neoliberal Looking Glass

12.  Approximately 4,000 images are printed
and presented at any moment in time
during the cruise.
› All are printed regardless
 Observing these images and purchasing
them is part of the visual past-time
activities on board.
› By observing I refer to the fact that all
vacationers observe all (everyone’s) images
QI 2014 12Neoliberal Looking Glass

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18.  Descending from the stairs leading from the ride, a mother looks at
the screens and calls to her young son: “Oh my gosh, Ellie, look!” as
she points her hand in the direction of his image on the screen in front
of her.
 members of large family are all looking at the screens, and the
mother (in her thirties, with a heavy Australian accent) cries: “Look at
me! Look at me! Oh Lord have mercy!” Her relatives instantly gather
near her and join her excitement and laugh. Then they turn away and
continue to talk about her image as they walk away.
 A father walking together with his son stops, points at one of the
screens and says, surprised (but not laughing), “Oh! There we are!”
 A tall and skinny male teenager with a ‘cool’ look (sunglasses and
reversed cap) points at one of the screens and turns to his father,
saying (half-facing him) in a British accent, “Right here, pops”.
 A group of older visitors stops to view their images. One of the
women points at one of the screens (a rolled park pamphlet she is
holding serves as a pointing device), where their images appear
together. Another woman says, “Oh, that’s priceless!” Shortly after, the
one holding the pamphlet points again at the screens and says, “Here
one they are” (referring to others in their group).
 A large group of some ten teenagers are looking at the screens,
and one of them (a girl) is the first to recognize them and call out:
“There we are!”
Neoliberal Looking GlassQI 2014 18

19.  A continuous commotion near the
screens: public expressions of excitement
 A group of people watching group of
screens showing (the same) group of
people
 Viewers
1. notice the screens and expect to see their
images
2. publicly recognize their image via bodily
and verbal gestures and actions
3. claim their image as their own
4. make comparisons and judgments
(aesthetic evaluations)
Neoliberal Looking GlassQI 2014 19

20.  Intentional and unintentional
consequences:
1. Most tourists purchase images (at both
sites)
› at approx. $25-$80 per image
› unintentional: commercial mediation of
one’s own image
› commercial mediation of consumer
collectives or publics
Neoliberal Looking GlassQI 2014 20

21.  Being seen, recorded and displayed
publicly is an exciting part of the activity;
› So is commenting on one’s image, and others’
images
 The visual operation amounts to visitors’
framing and positioning into being both
captivated audiences and performers
› Visual management of place and of individual
and collective – or public – identity
 Both in the sense of observable identity and in the
sense of publics’ identities.
Neoliberal Looking GlassQI 2014 21

22. QI 2014 22Neoliberal Looking Glass
More @: Noy, C. (2014). Staging portraits: Tourism’s
panoptic photo-industry. Annals of Tourism Research, 47,
48-62.
and @ : chaimnoy.com