POSITIONING AND PLACE CONSTRUCTION IN YOUTUBE TRAVEL VLOGS: A MULTIMODAL STUDY OF SAUDI ARABIA'S EMERGING IDENTITY

Abstract

Following Saudi Arabia’s 2019 launch of tourism—amidst decisive social and cultural shifts—there was an influx of international travelers, many of whom documented their first visits on video blogs (vlogs). The present study provides an in-depth analysis of nine popular YouTube ‘vloggers’ from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. Through a fine-tuned examination of the multimodal data, the research offers a novel expansion of Van Langenhove & Harré’ positioning Theory (1999b) by integrating Kress and Van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar’s Interactive Framework (2006). This integration allows for examining meaning formation which accounts for visual cues that support verbal mode in vlog content. The study captures how these vloggers navigate their identities in relation to the newly accessible Saudi Arabia, while also balancing the distinctiveness of their personas with elements that enhance their reach in social media. Three themes—religion, gender, and hospitality—emerged as recurrent from the data as those that vloggers commonly use in shaping their online identities and collectively constructing Saudi place identities. The research illustrates how each aspect shapes these collective positioning practices, exploring the broad discursive and multimodal choices the vloggers make in negotiating local meanings. These practices reveal the interplay between the vloggers’ idealized identities and their use of identity markers—especially those aligned with qualities valued in social media culture. The study concludes that place identity is constructed in digital environments at the nexus of circulated place discourses, social media dynamics, and high- profile identity strategies that emphasize valued authenticity. Findings indicate complex identity formations which reinforce a place’s core religious status, engage with evolving gender norms, and converge in immersive participation with Saudi locals’ acts of hospitality—all while aligning with social media’s attraction and popularity formulas. This study crosses academic boundaries and provides multidisciplinary insights related to tourism and place identity, as well as linguistic and discourse analysis. The research contributes to our understating of the social phenomena that comes with place identity construction in newer social settings—social media—which influences and helps to shape values. It highlights different modes of construct that emerged within this digital space, underscoring the performative nature of identities and offers insights into the broader impact of meaning formation.