Dark tourism
Dark tourism, also known as thanatourism, involves visiting sites associated with death, disaster, and suffering. This form of tourism can encompass a variety of locations, including battlefields, prisons, graveyards, concentration camps, and museums dedicated to tragic events. Notable destinations for dark tourism include the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, the World Trade Center site in New York, and the catacombs of Rome. The phenomenon has historical roots, dating back to the Roman Coliseum and public executions, but gained significant academic attention in the late 20th century. Scholars are particularly focused on the ethical implications of dark tourism, questioning the appropriateness of commercializing sites of tragedy and the motivations of visitors drawn to such places.
As global communication technology advances, the accessibility of information on tragedies worldwide has likely intensified interest in dark tourism. Museums dedicated to dark themes, like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Body Worlds exhibition, exemplify the growing popularity of this tourism niche. While it offers insights into historical events, dark tourism presents complex ethical dilemmas, especially concerning respect for the victims and their families.
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Subject Terms
Dark tourism
Dark tourism refers to a type of tourism focused on observing artifacts of death, disaster, and destruction. Examples of dark tourism spots include battlefields, prisons, graveyards, crime scenes, concentration camps, natural disaster sites, and macabre-themed museums. Popular dark tourism destinations around the world include the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, the World Trade Center site in New York, and the catacombs of Rome. Referred to as thanatourism by most academics, Scottish professors John Lennon and Malcolm Foley first coined the term dark tourism in 1996. The subject experienced great inquiry throughout the twenty-first century as scholars began focusing on the ethics of dark tourism.
History
Glasgow Caledonian University professors Lennon and Foley examine the phenomenon of dark tourism and discuss how various sites associated with death are promoted as tourist attractions in their 1996 journal article "JFK and Dark Tourism: A Fascination with Assassination." Dark tourism has existed for many centuries, dating back to the Roman Coliseum and its gladiator events. Since the beginning of time, people have been drawn to death and destruction. Examples of historical dark tourism include public executions and pilgrimages, the latter of which often involved people traveling to the death sites of important religious figures. Battlefield and morgue visits were also common. Nazi concentration camps, the Cambodian killing fields, and other locations of mass death and destruction became prominent tourist locales that people continue to visit today. Any site of tragedy and suffering can become a dark tourism attraction.
While not the first example of dark tourism, one of the earliest recorded American instances of dark tourism occurred in 1934. A fire aboard the ship the SS Morro Castle and the ensuing lack of emergency protocol devastated the vessel and resulted in the death of 137 people. The ship's destruction was one of the most controversial maritime disasters in American history, but the tragedy led to the implementation of fire safety improvements. Directly after the disaster, large crowds of people came to observe the aftermath, which intrigued historians. The site quickly turned into a tourist attraction, luring nearly a quarter-million people to view the wreck. Postcards and souvenirs were sold on-site, and radio broadcasts offered accounts of what was seen aboard the burning wreck, including vivid descriptions of burning corpses.
The dark tourism business saw rapid growth in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries as general tourism expanded with the advent of technology. Websites began listing the many dark tourist destinations throughout the world, which helped to increase awareness and make dark tourism very popular. News reports also helped to increase dark tourism to sites in Rwanda and Afghanistan following the atrocities committed there. These examples showed the growing number of tourists traveling to sites associated with death and suffering.
Themed museums also became popular tourist attractions. One of the largest organized macabre-themed tourist attractions is the Body Worlds traveling exhibition that is featured in major cities around the world. Body Worlds displays preserved human bodies and interior anatomical structures. Many of the people who donated their bodies to the exhibit died of particular medical conditions and anomalies. Exhibits that fall under the dark tourism category can be found in various museums across the globe. Some museums are even fully dedicated to a particular dark event. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, is an example of a dark tourism museum. Another example is the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, which houses a large collection of human remains with varying medical anomalies.
Ethics
One question often posed by those studying dark tourism is whether the promotion and availability of the attractions is ethical. The erection of memorial sites creates debate among those proposing the site and those affected by the event the site is meant to commemorate. Many people feel that dark tourism infringes on the rights of those who have suffered or died, as well as their loved ones. Extensive debates unfolded when World Trade Center site architects included a viewing platform for visitors. The commercialization and commodification of tragic events concerns many ethical scholars, though relatively few studies have examined the issue in greater detail.
Another common ethical question related to dark tourism is why people are drawn to these attractions. Scholars wonder what motivates a person to seek out sites of violence and suffering. Tourists travel in droves to places of mass killings as well as to graveyards, crypts, and other sites involving death. They also gather to witness productions simulating death, such as war reenactments and religious performances. Researchers also suggest that the media play a large role in the propagation of this activity. Global communication technology has given people greater access to news of atrocities around the world, therefore increasing interest in these events.
Bibliography
Coldwell, Will. "Dark Tourism: Why Murder Sites and Disaster Zones Are Proving Popular." Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. 31 Oct. 2013, www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/oct/31/dark-tourism-murder-sites-disaster-zones. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.
Cramer, Maria. "Beaches? Cruises? ‘Dark’ Tourists Prefer the Gloomy and Macabre." The New York Times, 28 Oct. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/10/28/travel/dark-tourism-travel.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.
"Dark Tourism." Dictionary of Genocide. Vol. 1. Eds. Samuel Totten and Paul R. Bartrop. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.
The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism. Eds. Richard Sharpley and Philip R Stone. Bristol, England: Channel View Publications, 2009. 3–17. Print.
Gotham, Kevin Fox. "Trauma as Entertainment." Encyclopedia of Trauma: An Interdisciplinary Guide. Ed. Charles R. Figley. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference, 2012. 702–705. Print.
Johanson, Mark. "Dark Tourism: Understanding the Attraction of Death and Disaster." International Business Times. IBT Media Inc. 5 May 2012, www.ibtimes.com/dark-tourism-understanding-attraction-death-and-disaster-696604. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.
Kamin, Debra. "The Rise of Dark Tourism." The Atlantic. Atlantic Monthly Group. 15 Jul. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/07/the-rise-of-dark-tourism/374432/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.