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Museums, monuments and the phenomenon of dark tourism
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An exploration of the concept of dark tourism and people's motivations behind engaging in dark tourism.
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MUSEUMS, MONUMENTSAND THE PHENOMENON OF
DARK TOURISM
SO4305: Crime, Continuities and Change.
J71263 Mark Horsely
, This assignment looks to critically explore the phenomenon of dark tourism, examining how the
concept first emerged, drawing from historical examples, before investigating how it has developed
into how it exists within today’s post-modern society with contemporary examples. This assignment
will additionally assess the motives behind the fascination of dark tourism, evaluating various
rationales and judging the level of humility surrounding each. Finally, this piece aims to conclude
with an exploration into potential future trends surrounding the practice.
The phenomenon of dark tourism, commonly known theoretically as ‘thanatourism’, is lacking in one
coherent definition. As defined by (Lennon, J. and Foley, M. 2002), dark tourism refers to events that
have occurred in recent times, which force the visitor to question modernity. Broader definitions of
the concept have been offered, (Marcel, J. 2003) identifies the phenomenon as visitations to places
where tragedies or historically notable death has occurred and that continue to impact on society.
(Marcel, J. 2003) develops his contribution, defining thanatourism as the dirty little secret of the
tourism industry. The earliest model of dark tourism, however, was viewed as ‘a motivational
category made up of tourists engaging in travel to a location wholly, or partly motivated by the
desire for symbolic or actual encounters with death’ (Stone, P. et al. 2018. Pp. 9).
Until the late 1990’s, the study of dark tourism was significantly uncharted and remote. It wasn’t
until scholars within disciplines, such as history, sociology and literature, began to visualise it as a
concept which offered a broad and socially significant field of behaviour for their academic scrutiny
that the phenomenon became more widely assessed (Stone, P. et al. 2018). Dark tourism is now
however a recognised and prevalent centre of investigation, inspiring the founding of the Institute
for Dark Tourism Research at the University of Central Lancaster, along with the launch of various
academic journals, including Current Issues in Dark Tourism Research. The subject has spanned a
multitude of definitions amongst scholars, including “morbid tourism” (Blom, T. 2000.), “grief
tourism”, “disaster tourism”, “phoenix tourism” and fifthly “black spot tourism” (Rojek, C. 1993).
Not only has dark tourism become the topic of significant and widespread literary debate, but it has
also prevailed within non-academic sectors, with documentary series Dark Tourist debuting on
popular streaming service Netflix during 2018, following journalist David Ferrier as he visits sites of
death and destruction, such as the location of John F. Kennedy’s assassination (Hartmann, R. et al.
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