Visitors asking for informations at a tourism desk
outside 9/11 Memorial in New York, 2013 | A.
Hertzog
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focusing on tourism associated with places of death
have undergone a great development, discussing new
categories such as “tragic tourism” (Lippard, 2000),
“thanatourism” (Seaton, 1996) or “dark tourism”
(Lennon and Foley, 2000).
Researchers have provided many interpretations
of tourism associated with places of memory: some
resituate it in a long history of fascination with
ruins as traces of destruction or lost civilizations
dating back to antiquity; others have seen it as a
specific manifestation of the complex relationships
between societies and death. By using the notion of
“dark tourism”, Lennon and Foley want to stress
«a fundamental shift in the way in which death,
disaster, and other grotesque atrocities are being
handled by those who offer associated tourist
products» (Lennon and Foley, 2000, 3). Some
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researchers suggest it is a manifestation of the crisis
experienced by societies, pushing communities or
Page of a visitor book from Neuve Chapelle Indian Memorial, 2013 | A.
Hertzog
individuals to question their painful pasts. Others
analyze it more as a new form of «commodification
of emotions that is functional for the reproduction
of both modern societies and of the market»
(Bartoletti, 2010).
Deep VIEW
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