Constructing identity in space and place: Semiotic and discourse analyses of museum tourism

Abstract

This study presents discourse and semiotic analyses to understand tourists' identity construction in the Min-tai-yuan Museum (hereafter, the Museum ). To explore the extensive and profound connotations of the Museum 's exhibitions, the study adopts mimesis as an interpretive framework to reveal visitors' transformative change from physical to symbolic space, and to decode identity construction through interactions between the symbolic (conceptual) vis-à-vis the physical (real). As a medium for the representation of place, the Museum is found to perform as a system of reproduction that is arranged around a series of historical events and abstracted as a cultural symbol. Implications of the study for museum tourism management are reflected in the context of cultural representation and reproduction.