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contribute to the production of continuously recomposed memory
spaces, which can lead to a redefinition of the very notion of a
Visiting Lifta with a descendant of a displaced
family in 2017. The destroyed village has be-
come a natural reserve according to the Israeli
environement law | A. Hertzog
place of memory. About the villages of Silesia visited by Germans,
Sabine Marschall points out: «The destination of their journey
may not be declared heritage sites or dark tourism but rather they
are idiosyncratic places of subjective meaning, associated with
memories of trauma» (Marschall, 2015). These memory places
are not recognized, branded and marketed by tourism authorities:
«they lack all the hallmarks of heritagization, restoration, and
touristic commodification, and there may not be guided tours,
souvenirs sellers or other touristic services on offer». But
precisely, the lack of explanations and interpretations leads to
emptiness and silence that allows, according to Marschall: «the
visitor imaginatively reconstruct the invisible parts and suggest
the historical social formations of their genesis […] For me, the
deep sense of authenticity derived precisely from the silence of the
ruins».
Tourist practices and experiences are shaped by many
elements belonging to their personal stories but are also framed
by national traditions and global cultures. The fact they develop
ritualized practices and “performances” in places of memory often
shaped by dominant stakeholders (starting with the state), doesn’t
alter the fact that their practices and motivations are of great
diversity. Comparative studies about different categories of visitors
could be extended in research, to better understand how touring is
actually linked to memory transmission – which leads us to the last
Deep VIEW
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