Episode 19: Dark Tourism? In My Family Vacation?

CW: Holocaust, Death, War, this episode generally contains many forms of grimness

It’s More Likely Than You Think!

Ever wanted to venture into the dark, the disturbed, and the utterly goth? Well, guess what, that school trip your school took to the local battlegrounds is exactly that! In this episode we delve into what is dark tourism, and how ‘dark’ does something have to be to earn the title. Not only that, but there’s some do’s, don’t’s, and why-the-HELL-would-you-do-that’s advice when walking into the mouth of hell. Or, you know, the monument down the road. For this episode, we got really into the discussion, so you’re getting an extra long episode this week!

This link, named just “Is Dark Tourism Okay?” goes into the intention you put into your approach when you go to these places.

This link will break down the definition of what dark tourism is, the ethics of it, types of dark tourism, and places typically visited. It also mentions the dark tourist show on Netflix as a “documentary” but it’s the single source I read that was favorable toward this show. That section does reference some interesting books, though.

This is another source talking about what dark tourism is and isn’t, the ethics of it, a list of some types, a discussion of selfies (where I took one of my examples from), and from the perspective of a real dark tourist and one who wrote a their dissertation “on the effect of dark tourism on cultural heritage in Cambodia.” It’s a shorter read than the last one if you need that.

This is the academic paper referenced in the last link. “Guided by the Dark: From Thanatopsis to Thanatourism” by A.V. Seaton in the International Journal of Heritage Studies. It’s a paper about the history of dark tourism,

Finally, here is the site I referenced a few times over the course of the episode where you can go to look up places to visit if you’re interested in dark tourism.