This article, based on an interview study of public engagement with the new Welsh Assembly building — the Senedd — theorizes the limits and opportunities of `political tourism', or visits to sites of political importance. To understand visitors' engagement with the assembly building, we explore how they account for their reasons to visit, and their perceptions and expectations of the new building and institution. We identify two principal types of vocabulary displayed by members of the public in making sense of the building, those of political engagement and tourist consumption. Both are informed by what we refer to as practices of the `democratic gaze'. Both vocabularies reveal, to varying degrees, the social mechanics of the gaze, and the inscription and interpretation of agency around the building's design. We conclude by exploring how this study can inform discussions of political engagement and tourism practices.
Aaron, J. and C. Williams (2005) Postcolonial Wales. Cardiff : University of Wales Press.
2.
Anderson, B. (1991) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism, 2nd edn. London: Verso.
3.
Baker, C.D. (2001) `Ethnomethodological Analyses of Interviews', in J.F. Gubrium and J.A. Holstein (eds) Handbook of Interview Research, pp. 777-80. London: SAGE.
4.
Bauman, Z. (2000) Liquid Modernity. London: Polity Press.
5.
BBC Online (2006a) `NewAssembly Building Opens Doors', 1 March, URL (consulted May 2007): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4686944.stm
6.
BBC Online (2006b) `Senedd Tour', URL (consulted May 2007): http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/seneddtour/
7.
BBC Online (2006c) `State Opening forWelsh Assembly', 1 March, URL (consulted May 2007): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4716394.stm
8.
Blumler, J. and M. Gurevitch (1995) The Crisis of Public Communication. London: Routledge.
9.
Bourdieu, P. and A. Darbel (1991) The Love of Art: European Art Museums and the Public . Cambridge: Polity Press.
10.
Buckingham, D. (2000) The Making of Citizens: Young People, News and Politics. London: Routledge.
11.
Cabe (2006) `National Assembly for Wales', URL (consulted May 2007): http://www.cabe.org.uk/default.aspx?contentitemid=1508&aspectid=23
12.
Chaney, P. and R. Fevre (2001) `Welsh Nationalism and the Challenge of "Inclusive" Politics', Research in Social Movements Conflict and Change23: 227-54.
13.
Condor, S. and J. Abell (2006) `Vernacular Constructions of "National Identity" in Post-Devolution Scotland and England', in J. Law and K. Stapleton (eds) Devolution and Identity, pp. 51-76. Aldershot: Ashgate.
14.
Craik, J. (1997) `The Culture of Tourism', in C. Rojek and J. Urry (eds) Touring Cultures, pp. 113-36. New York: Routledge.
15.
Davies, W. (2006) `Has Devolution FinallyIns pired?', 1 March, URL (consulted May 2007): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4689492.stm
16.
Delli Carpini, M.X. and S. Keeter (1996) What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
17.
Dicks, B. (2003) Culture on Display: The Production of Contemporary Visitability. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
18.
Eliasoph, N. (1998) Avoiding Politics: How Americans Produce Apathy in Everyday Life. New York: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Fitzgerald, R. and W. Housley (2006) `Categorisation, Accounts and Motives: "Letters-to-the-Editor" and Devolution in Wales', in J. Law and K. Stapleton (eds) Devolution and Identity, pp. 111-26. Aldershot: Ashgate .
20.
Foucault, M. (1976) The Birth of the Clinic. London : Tavistock.
21.
Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison . New York: Vantage.
22.
Housley, W. (2006) `Wales, Identity and Cultural Modernisation', Contemporary Wales18: 156-66.
23.
Housley, W. and R. Fitzgerald (2001) `Categorization, Narrative and Devolution in Wales' , Sociological Research Online6(2).
24.
Jones, R.M. (1982) The North Wales Quarrymen, 1874-1922. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
25.
Kohn, M. (2003) Radical Space: Building the House of the People . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
26.
Kusno, A. (2000) Behind the Postcolonial: Architecture, Urban Space, and Political Cultures in Indonesia. London: Routledge.
27.
Lewis, J., S. Inthorn and K. Wahl-Jorgensen (2005) Citizens or Consumers? What the Media Tell Us about Political Participation. Buckingham : Open University Press.
28.
Light, D. (2000) `Gazing on Communism: Heritage Tourism and Post-Communist Identities in Germany, Hungary and Romania', Tourism Geographies2(2): 157-76.
29.
Lury, C. (1997) `The Objects of Travel', in C. Rojek and J. Urry (eds) Touring Cultures, pp. 75-95. New York: Routledge .
30.
Mills, C.W. (1967) Power, Politics and People: The Collected Essays . Oxford. Oxford University Press .
31.
Mills, S.F. (2003) `Open-Air Museums and the Tourist Gaze', in D. Crouch and N. Lübren (eds) Visual Culture and Tourism, pp. 75-90. Oxford : Berg.
32.
Peterson, R. and R. Kern (1996) `Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore' , American Sociological Review61(5): 900-7.
33.
Rojek, C. (1997) `Indexing, Dragging and the Social Construction of Tourist Sights', in C. Rojek and J. Urry (eds) Touring Cultures , pp. 52-75. New York: Routledge.
34.
Rojek, C. and J. Urry (1997) `Transformations of Travel and Theory', in C. Rojek and J. Urry (eds) Touring Cultures, pp. 1-22. New York : Routledge.
35.
Sahm, A. (1999) `Political Culture and National Symbols: Their Impact on the Belarussian Nation-Building Process', Nationalities Papers27(4): 649-60.
36.
Thompson, J. (1995) Media and Modernity. Cambridge : Polity Press.
37.
Urry, J. (2002) The Tourist Gaze, 2nd edn. London: SAGE.
38.
Urry, J. (2005) `The Consuming of Place', in A. Jaworski and A. Pritchard (eds) Discourse, Communication and Tourism, pp. 19-27. Clevedon : Channel View.
39.
Wahl-Jorgensen, J. (2002) `Coping with the Meaninglessness of Politics: Citizenspeak in the 2001 British General Elections', Javnost/The Public9(3): 65-82.
40.
Warren, C.A.B. (2001) `Qualitative Interviewing', in J.F. Gubrium and J.A. Holstein (eds) Handbook of Interview Research, pp. 83-101. London : SAGE.
