8 Exploring the intersections between dark tourism and Arctic traumascapes in the Anthropocene: The case of Finnish Lapland
-
Alix Varnajot
Abstract
In recent years, an increasing number of people have experienced ecological grief due to significant changes in their environment, mourning the death of more-than -human entities such as glaciers or iconic landscapes. In the southernmost regions of the Arctic, like Finnish Lapland, water and rain is estimated to gradually dominate over ice and snow due to global climate change. However, in the last 40 years, the Arctic tourism industry has grown based on representations of snow and ice, and even today, keeps promoting Finnish Lapland with images of guaranteed white vistas (Herva et al., 2020; Varnajot & Saarinen, 2022). The increasing gap between the dynamic reality and the static promotion of the Arctic in tourism can be understood as the death of the iconic white landscape of Lapland, and, in some cases, leads to the production of Arctic traumascapes. Traumascapes are defined as haunting places “where visible and invisible, past and present, physical and metaphysical come to coexist and share common space” (Tumarkin, 2019, p. 5), and visits to these specific sites of trauma are often referred to as dark tourism (Kaelber, 2007). In the Anthropocene however, dark tourism increasingly encompasses places associated with the death of more-than-human entities, such as the iconic vistas of Lapland (Varnajot & Saarinen, 2021). In line with this, this conceptual chapter investigates the intersections between dark tourism and traumascapes raised by the shrinking cryosphere in the context of Finnish Lapland. Finnish Lapland provides an interesting case where we can already observe some previews of Arctic tourism products being challenged due to changes in seasonality and lack of snow and ice. Therefore, by exploring the production of dark tourism practices in Finnish Lapland, this chapter aims to shed new light on the production of traumascapes in tourism on the one hand and to provide new conceptualizations concerning the idea of ‘Arctic traumascapes’ on the other.
Abstract
In recent years, an increasing number of people have experienced ecological grief due to significant changes in their environment, mourning the death of more-than -human entities such as glaciers or iconic landscapes. In the southernmost regions of the Arctic, like Finnish Lapland, water and rain is estimated to gradually dominate over ice and snow due to global climate change. However, in the last 40 years, the Arctic tourism industry has grown based on representations of snow and ice, and even today, keeps promoting Finnish Lapland with images of guaranteed white vistas (Herva et al., 2020; Varnajot & Saarinen, 2022). The increasing gap between the dynamic reality and the static promotion of the Arctic in tourism can be understood as the death of the iconic white landscape of Lapland, and, in some cases, leads to the production of Arctic traumascapes. Traumascapes are defined as haunting places “where visible and invisible, past and present, physical and metaphysical come to coexist and share common space” (Tumarkin, 2019, p. 5), and visits to these specific sites of trauma are often referred to as dark tourism (Kaelber, 2007). In the Anthropocene however, dark tourism increasingly encompasses places associated with the death of more-than-human entities, such as the iconic vistas of Lapland (Varnajot & Saarinen, 2021). In line with this, this conceptual chapter investigates the intersections between dark tourism and traumascapes raised by the shrinking cryosphere in the context of Finnish Lapland. Finnish Lapland provides an interesting case where we can already observe some previews of Arctic tourism products being challenged due to changes in seasonality and lack of snow and ice. Therefore, by exploring the production of dark tourism practices in Finnish Lapland, this chapter aims to shed new light on the production of traumascapes in tourism on the one hand and to provide new conceptualizations concerning the idea of ‘Arctic traumascapes’ on the other.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Foreword 1
- 1 Dark tourism: The need for a critical approach 5
-
Part I: Dark tourism, affect and emotions
- 2 Atmospheric instability in dark tourism: Spatial construction of conflicting affective atmospheres at the Titanic Museum & Attraction, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (USA) 33
- 3 Understanding the emotions of visitors to Chernobyl 53
-
Part II: Dark tourism and critical animal studies
- 4 Animals as dark tourism attractions: A prototype 77
- 5 Meet, greet and eat: Farmed animals as dark tourism attractions 89
-
Part III: Dark tourism and critical memory studies
- 6 Trading paradise for Palestine: Dark tourism to refugee camps in the West Bank 109
- 7 The scope of dark tourism-scapes: Exclusion zones and their creative boundedness from Chornobyl to Montserrat 129
- 8 Exploring the intersections between dark tourism and Arctic traumascapes in the Anthropocene: The case of Finnish Lapland 147
- 9 “Despicable and disgusting”: Emotional labor, and the fear of dark tourism 163
- 10 Welcome to Revachol: Disco Elysium as virtual dark tourism 181
-
Part IV: Dark tourism, power and identity
- 11 Sites of (dark) consciences: Investigating dark tourism cosmologies in a postcolonial landscape 203
- 12 Towards a postcolonial museum? Experiencing legacies of colonialism in dark tourism museum exhibits 219
- 13 Exhibiting power: Dark tourism and crime in the police museum 245
- 14 Representations in UK witches tours: Walking over the roots of misogyny 261
- 15 Critical theories in dark tourism: Over the years and beyond 277
- List of contributors 285
- List of figures 291
- Index 293
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Foreword 1
- 1 Dark tourism: The need for a critical approach 5
-
Part I: Dark tourism, affect and emotions
- 2 Atmospheric instability in dark tourism: Spatial construction of conflicting affective atmospheres at the Titanic Museum & Attraction, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (USA) 33
- 3 Understanding the emotions of visitors to Chernobyl 53
-
Part II: Dark tourism and critical animal studies
- 4 Animals as dark tourism attractions: A prototype 77
- 5 Meet, greet and eat: Farmed animals as dark tourism attractions 89
-
Part III: Dark tourism and critical memory studies
- 6 Trading paradise for Palestine: Dark tourism to refugee camps in the West Bank 109
- 7 The scope of dark tourism-scapes: Exclusion zones and their creative boundedness from Chornobyl to Montserrat 129
- 8 Exploring the intersections between dark tourism and Arctic traumascapes in the Anthropocene: The case of Finnish Lapland 147
- 9 “Despicable and disgusting”: Emotional labor, and the fear of dark tourism 163
- 10 Welcome to Revachol: Disco Elysium as virtual dark tourism 181
-
Part IV: Dark tourism, power and identity
- 11 Sites of (dark) consciences: Investigating dark tourism cosmologies in a postcolonial landscape 203
- 12 Towards a postcolonial museum? Experiencing legacies of colonialism in dark tourism museum exhibits 219
- 13 Exhibiting power: Dark tourism and crime in the police museum 245
- 14 Representations in UK witches tours: Walking over the roots of misogyny 261
- 15 Critical theories in dark tourism: Over the years and beyond 277
- List of contributors 285
- List of figures 291
- Index 293
