Branding the past : the visual imagery of England's heritage

As John Urry (1994, xx) points out, '[i]dentity almost everywhere has to be produced partly out of the images constructed or reproduced for tourists'. It is therefore no surprise that a robust field of study concerned with 'the visual' has developed within the social sciences (Rose 2001, 10) and indeed within the study of tourism itself (Crouch and Uibbren 2003). This development, however, has had relatively little effect on studies of heritage, an area of research that encounters the visual constantly yet has generated very little in the way of literature dealing with issues of visual representation. This omission is surprising, especially as England's heritage and its meaning, as Stuart Hall (2005, 24 emphasis in original) reminds us, 'is constructed within, not above or outside representations', such that 'those who cannot see themselves reflected in its mirror cannot properly "belong'" . As an observation, Hall's statement is particularly acute when placed within the context of contemporary calls for social inclusion and multiculturalism. Indeed, it means that the 'visual' cannot simply be written off as a passing intellectual fad, for it allows us to address real issues in the political, social and cultural arenas.