Dynamic texts and tourist gaze - Death, bones and buffalo

Contemporary cultural studies, including tourism research, have largely avo ided analysing the effects of texts upon individuals. This gap is addressed by examining the dynamic relationships between guidebooks and tourists thr ough interviews carried out in Tana Toraja, Indonesia. Reliance upon a limi ted number of international guidebooks led to a commodified experience and gaze, these sources "tutoring" tourists to gaze at aspects of Tana Toraja e ither comparatively, enthusiastically, or with disinterest, in or der to re alise an "authentic exotic" Other. A model linking the relationship between guidebouks, spoken communication, and the conceptual spheres dominating to urists' perceptions is developed, arguing for greater recognition of the dy namism of tests in both tourism and cultural studies.