12 Towards a postcolonial museum? Experiencing legacies of colonialism in dark tourism museum exhibits
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Sarike van Slooten
Abstract
The awareness of the legacies of colonial histories and difficult heritage has grown significantly in public and academic debates over the past two decades with the majority of debates revolving around issues concerning the acknowledgement of, and accountability for, the enduring impacts of colonisation. Narratives about colonisation include prevailing notions of civilisation and citizenship, while narratives of slavery and less victorious aspects of colonisation are often silenced. A prevailing sentiment about the acknowledgement and accountability of the enduring impact of colonisation within public representations increasingly challenges museums to rethink representations of colonial pasts in the present. This chapter seeks to identify how museums can connect better to contemporary debates of colonialism, particularly relevant in the context of dark tourism that often deals with legacies of the trauma of colonialism such as slavery, genocide and human oppression.
Abstract
The awareness of the legacies of colonial histories and difficult heritage has grown significantly in public and academic debates over the past two decades with the majority of debates revolving around issues concerning the acknowledgement of, and accountability for, the enduring impacts of colonisation. Narratives about colonisation include prevailing notions of civilisation and citizenship, while narratives of slavery and less victorious aspects of colonisation are often silenced. A prevailing sentiment about the acknowledgement and accountability of the enduring impact of colonisation within public representations increasingly challenges museums to rethink representations of colonial pasts in the present. This chapter seeks to identify how museums can connect better to contemporary debates of colonialism, particularly relevant in the context of dark tourism that often deals with legacies of the trauma of colonialism such as slavery, genocide and human oppression.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Foreword 1
- 1 Dark tourism: The need for a critical approach 5
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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
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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
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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
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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
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
