Dark Tourism

New uses for old bunkers - a series

by Luke Bennett

This ongoing series of blog essays takes an instance of the re-use of abandoned bunkers and using photography, theory... more This ongoing series of blog essays takes an instance of the re-use of abandoned bunkers and using photography, theory and the lived-practice of the current inhabitants of these places challenges the prevailing suggestion that such premises are either 'non-places' or beyond assimilation by contemporary culture. Bunkers featured to date have included Dutch, Norwegian, Albanian and U.S. bunkers.

Writing on the Graceland wall: on the importance of authorship in pilgrimage landscapes

by Derek Alderman

Alderman, Derek H. 2002. “Writing on the Graceland Wall: On the Importance of Authorship in Pilgrimage Landscapes.” Tourism Recreation Research 27(2): 27-34. Contribution to special issue “Sacred Journeys” (guest edited by Dallen Timothy).

“Lust for Death: Dark Tourism, Creation and Consumption of Haunted Places in Contemporary Kyoto.”

by Andrea De Antoni

In De Antoni, Andrea and Massimo Raveri (eds.). Death and Desire in Modern and Contemporary Japan. (Working Title). Venice: Venice University Press. Expected 2013

"Terror and Tourism: Charting the Ambivalent Allure of the Urban Jungle." In C. Minca and T. Oates (eds.), Travels in Paradox: Remapping Tourism. Lanham, MD:Rowman and Littlefield.

by Kathleen Adams

(2006) In C. Minca and T. Oates (eds.), Travels in Paradox: Remapping Tourism. Lanham, MD:Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 205-228

Remembering JL123

by Christopher Hood

Video related to JL123 research

On 12 August 1985 Japan Air Lines flight JL123 (日航123便), also referred to as JAL123, crashed on Osutaka-no-one... more On 12 August 1985 Japan Air Lines flight JL123 (日航123便), also referred to as JAL123, crashed on Osutaka-no-one (御巣鷹の尾根). To date this crash remains the worst plane crash in terms of number of human fatalities due to a single plane crash. Of the 524 passengers and crew, only 4 survivors were found when rescue teams eventually reached the crash site.

Question marks remain over the exact cause for the structural failure of the Boeing 747 Jumbo jet (registration JA8119), with the official report pointing to a faulty repair job following a previous accident in 1978. Various other theories also exist.

In many respects JL123 is Japan's and the aviation world's equivalent of the Titanic.

Irei-no-Sono, in the centre of the village, is a memorial to those who died. In addition, there are memorials at the crash site on Osutaka-no-One, 20km from the centre of the village.
This video has been put together to help ensure that the world never forgets. The background music is ‘Sen-no-Kaze-ni-natte’ which is sung at the memorial services held on 11 and 12 August each year.

For further information about the crash, see the book Dealing With Disaster in Japan: Responses to the Flight JL123 Crash. See http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415456623/ or http://www.hood-online.co.uk/JL123/index.php

Narratives on the World's Worst Plane Crash: Flight JL123 in Print and on Screen

by Christopher Hood

February 2009, Research Seminar Paper, Ref No.7, Cardiff Crimes Narrative Network, Cardiff University - http://www.cf.ac.uk/chri/research/cnic/

The crash of Japan Airlines flight JL123 on 12 August 1985 shook the Japanese nation. To date this crash remains the... more The crash of Japan Airlines flight JL123 on 12 August 1985 shook the Japanese nation. To date this crash remains the worst plane crash in terms of number of human fatalities due to a single plane crash. Of the 524 passengers and crew, only 4 survivors were found when rescue teams eventually reached the crash site.

The crash occurred during the Obon religious festival when many Japanese return to their home towns to pay respects to their dead ancestors. About 12 minutes into the flight a loud explosion was heard. Most of the rear stabilizer had been lost. All hydraulics were also lost. For 32 minutes the pilot tried to bring the plane under control. At 18:56 the plane crashed into a ridge near Mount Osutaka. Question marks remain over the exact cause of the structural failure of the Boeing 747 Jumbo jet, with the official report pointing to a faulty repair job following a previous accident in 1978. In many respects JL123 is Japan's and the aviation world’s equivalent of the Titanic.

This paper considers how the crash has been written about, the television documentaries and films about the crash still being made over 20 years on, and to what degree do these programmes and images on web pages shape the understanding of the events.

Guantánamo   Matters:   Tourist   Practices   and   the   Materialities   of   U.S.   Military  Detention

by Elspeth Van Veeren

Working draft. Please do not cite without permission.

In the ten years since its opening, thousands of visitors have made their way to the detention facilities at JTF... more In the ten years since its opening, thousands of visitors have made their way to the detention facilities at JTF Guantánamo to inspect the site. Whether journalist, politician, aid worker or senior military staff, these visitors (and the members of the public who access the site through JTF-Guantánamo’s ‘virtual tour’ available on its website) are invited to view the ‘modern’ amenities and ‘humane’ way that detainees are being treated by the US military. Central to these tours and to communicating this message is a visit to Guantánamo’s ‘Tour Cell’ where detainee uniforms and ‘comfort items’ are neatly laid out, and to the detainee hospital for example. The US military uses these tours and the objects that are showcased within them to help constitute and embody subject positions within the competition over the definition of the site in the wider war on terror discourse. By drawing on theories of material culture and spectacle, the complex processes at Guantánamo that work to constitute identities in the Global War on Terror for those ‘outside the wire’, nationally and internationally, are understood as founded in material practices. Guantánamo cannot be understood without material ‘things’, without a materiality of politics.

Presentation of Dark Tourism: Te Wairoa, The Buried Village

by Glen Croy

Co-authored with Nell Smith (first author), In Ryan, C., Page, S., and Aicken, M. (editors). Taking Tourism to the Limits: Issues, Concepts and Managerial Perspectives, 2005, London: Elsevier Limited. 199-213.

The attraction of dark tourism sites to tourists has been reflected in a growing academic interest in the phenomenon... more The attraction of dark tourism sites to tourists has been reflected in a growing academic interest in the phenomenon of dark tourism. This chapter highlights definitional issues in the conceptualisation  of 'dark tourism', and particularly the two issues of time, and anxiety and doubt in modernity. A new, inclusive definition is proposed based on the supply of a site of death and or destruction, and that tourists identify and personalise the site of death and or destruction. An analysis of a New Zealand dark tourism site, Te Wairoa, The Buried Village, is undertaken, primarily to assess the 'demand' side of the definition. In 1886, almost 200 people lost their lives after the volcanic eruption of Mount Tarawera. Reviewing the pre and on-site information about Te Wairoa, it was identified that the site would be identified as a place of death, and personalised as such. Overall, it was presented that the images presented create or modify motivations, expectations and influence decisions to visit and site managers need to be sensitive to the site and personalise visitors' experiences.