Collective representations of the Costa del Sol, official discourse and leaks

Abstract

Since tourism burst into the Costa del Sol as a phenomenon of urban change, a varied succession of discourses have been deposited on its space. Although they are frequently presented as necessary breaks or alternative approaches, the exercise of threading them together discovers places in common and evidence of certain corruption. Among the images, assumptions and stereotypes which form the foundation of collective representations, legitimizing and interiorizing strategies promoted by power. At the same time, the rigid hypotheses in their analysis limit and narrow the possibility of understanding the reality of the area. The reflection we present here attempts to individualize to question a series of recurring elements in government discourse, in communications media and academic research concerning the Costa del Sol. With the desire to find leaks that could help widen the field of vision, it ends by proposing a symbolic flight along the N-340 highway, master artery crossing and governing the territory, to call attention to the life at the edges of the official project.