Speaker
Description
The study investigates how Vietnam’s four official tourism slogans and logos (2001-present) construct national identity through discursive and visual strategies under the lens of Orientalism. Drawing on Multimodal-Critical Discourse Analysis approach, informed by Edward Said’s foundational theory and contemporary tourism discourse literature, the study asks (1) What linguistic and visual features in Vietnam’s official tourism slogans and logos (2001-present) reflect Orientalist discourses? and (2) How do these features contribute to constructing Vietnam’s national image within the global tourism context?
The analysis reveals how lexical items such as “hidden”, “timeless”, and “charm” in combination with visual signifiers like lotus motifs, brushstroke typography, and depictions of smiling women in traditional costumes co-produce a romanticized and essentialized representation of Vietnam. These semiotic resources collectively position Vietnam as an exotic destination. The findings underscore a recurring reliance on aestheticization, temporal detachment, and gendered exoticism, which linguistically and visually reinforce entrenched East-West binaries in postcolonial discourse. By situating Vietnam’s tourism discourse within broader ideological frameworks, the paper contributes to critical debates on national image-making and cultural representation in global tourism media.
Keywords: tourism slogans and logos, Orientalism, Multimodal-Critical Discourse Analysis, tourism discourse, national image-making
Biography
Vo Le Dinh Van, M.A., is currently a lecturer in the English for Specific Purposes Division at the University of Economics, University of Da Nang, Vietnam. His major research interests include TESOL methodology, second language acquisition, and linguistics. He has published articles on teaching pronunciation and speaking in both domestic and regional journals. He can be contacted via email at vodinhvan95@gmail.com.
