The marketing of certain tourist destinations can be analyzed as discourse that conveys meaning to the consumer and to the consumed. This discourse, which I refer to hereafter as paradisal discourse, is a combination of Orientalism, travel writing, discourse of the Primitive, and diverse forms of Otherness. This paper begins with an exploration of discourse as a tool of knowledge and of power, illustrated through a detailed assessment of Said's Orientalism and other relevant works and concepts. The discourses of “Orientalism,” “primitivism” and travel writing are likened to the paradisal discourse found in the marketing of certain types of tourist destinations. The second section of the paper presents an historical and cultural analysis of the concept of paradise in Western society, summarizing the elements which, over time, have come to form this distinctive discourse. The third section of the paper assesses the way in which this discourse forms the framework by which a specific tropical paradise, Hawaii...

The Quest for Paradise: Europe and the American Moral Imagination

Paradisal discourse: A critical analysis of marketing and consuming Hawaii

The nomination acceptance addresses of recent presidential candidates constitute a significant aspect of an American political ritual. These addresses might be termed a “modern jeremiad”; because they conform to the jeremiad tradition in American rhetoric. Like the Puritan jeremiad which was central to a religious ritual, the modern jeremiad continues to function rhetorically as a means for interpreting the meaning of America's past and unifying the audience around a shared vision of America's future.

American political rhetoric and the jeremiad tradition: Presidential nomination acceptance addresses, 1960–1976

Aquesta tesi doctoral, denominada Literatura d'Autoajuda dels EEUU i la Crida de l' Orient Llunya: la Acculturacio d' Idees i Practiques Orientals amb Atencio Especial al Periode que va de 1980 en endavant, es un Estudi Cultural sobre la influencia del Orient Llunya dins d'un grup seleccionat de cinc llibres d'autoajuda. Esta dividida en tres parts ben definides. La Primera Part es una introduccio al tema d'autoajuda, des d'una perspectiva d'Estudis Culturals: la seva definicio, les raons sociologiques, psicologiques i economiques de la seva aparicio, un intent de categoritzacio tenint en compte diferents corrents de pensament, aixi com un resum historic dels canvis basics en els ideals d'exit i felicitat tal i com apareixen expressats en la literatura d'autoajuda americana al llarg del temps. L'intent de categoritzacio es enterament meu i esta especialment basat en un clar canvi d'orientacio al llarg del temps, que ens ajuda a entendre la literatura d'autoajuda com un fenomen socio-cultural en evolucio. En la Segona Part ofereixo un analisi cultural exhaustiu sobre la creixent influencia de l'Orient Llunya en els Estats Units d'America, des d'una perspectiva historica, social, psicologica, filosofica i cientifica ja que aquesta informacio es essencial per establir els contextos historics, culturals i socials en els que s'ha desenvolupat la literatura d'autoajuda (i les influencies orientals que conte). Sense aquest treball de contextualitzacio, hauria estat extremadament dificil tractar autores especifics i els seus escrits de forma intel·ligible i transparent. I finalment, a la Tercera Part, em dedico a l'analisi de la articulacio de la influencia de l'Orient Llunya dins d'alguns dels llibres d'autoajuda mes coneguts i mes amplament llegits, des de la decada de 1980 en endavant, en relacio a la seva contribucio als objectius relacionats amb la felicitat i la pau interior. Aixo porta a la conclusio de que les cultures de transformacio personal, que han arribat a ser una part tan intrinseca de la cultura americana, sovint adopten i adapten idees i conceptes de fonts molt diferents, especialment de l'Orient Llunya, moltes vegades per cobrir les seves propies necessitats, donant un ‘toc america' idiosincratic.

/pdf/us-self-help-literature-and-the-call-of-the-east-the-1tmelbxz8k.pdf

US Self-help Literature and the Call of the East: The Acculturation of Eastern Ideas and Practices with Special Attention to the Period from the 1980s Onwards

Naseem Hines Dr. Naseem Akhtar Hines received her PhD in Asian Languages and Literature from the University of Washington in Seattle. Her Dissertation focuses on the devotional literature of North India. The topic of her Master’s Theses was “The Imagery of Wine in the Urdu Poetry.” She received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Washington in Seattle, and from Hyderabad, Deccan, India. She taught at the University of Washington in Seattle, at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, at University of California at Berkeley and, in Autumn 2001, she joins the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachussetts. Dr. Hines has traveled and participated in major national and international academic conferences. Her scholarly articles, fiction, and poetry have been published in several in several anthologies. Her work and travel experience have afforded her a deep insight into the literature, art, music and cultures of the world. Currently, she is working on an English translation of a fourteenth-century Indo-Sufi allegorical romance, Chandayan.

http://www.pps.k12.or.us/depts-c/mc-me/be-as-la.pdf

Portland Public Schools Geocultural Baseline Essay Series ASIAN AND ASIAN-AMERICAN TRADITIONS IN LANGUAGE ARTS

(1970). Beyond the Exponentials; the Role of Geography in the Great Transition. Economic Geography: Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 498-535.

The Quest for Paradise: Europe and the American Moral Imagination

Citations

Paradisal discourse: A critical analysis of marketing and consuming Hawaii

American political rhetoric and the jeremiad tradition: Presidential nomination acceptance addresses, 1960–1976

US Self-help Literature and the Call of the East: The Acculturation of Eastern Ideas and Practices with Special Attention to the Period from the 1980s Onwards

Portland Public Schools Geocultural Baseline Essay Series ASIAN AND ASIAN-AMERICAN TRADITIONS IN LANGUAGE ARTS

Beyond the Exponentials; the Role of Geography in the Great Transition

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