14 Representations in UK witches tours: Walking over the roots of misogyny
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Rebecca Finkel
Abstract
This chapter focuses on issues of gender in dark tourism, a topic the field has barely addressed. Based on feminist approaches, this chapter explores the ways in which witches, and related dark histories of misogyny and violence, are represented in witches tours in Britain. Witches tours are a popular tourist attraction in places that once held witch trials and executions. We seek to examine how those historically accused of being witches, who were mainly older or independent women, are portrayed in contemporary times and what gendered narratives this promotes and emphasizes. Methods include ethnographic techniques of participant and direct observation of witches tours to be immersed in the visitor experience including how these tours are advertised and how so-called witches are represented and to examine how the historic persecution of (some) women has been commercialised and sanitised for touristic consumption. How we view the past often influences how we see things in the present, and even tourist attractions based loosely on historic events can have an impact on re/constructing and reinforcing gendered narratives. The ways these witches tours are presented online suggests that they can be interpreted as one of the ‘lightest’ forms of dark tourism in that they are oriented for edutainment in a Disneyfied vein.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on issues of gender in dark tourism, a topic the field has barely addressed. Based on feminist approaches, this chapter explores the ways in which witches, and related dark histories of misogyny and violence, are represented in witches tours in Britain. Witches tours are a popular tourist attraction in places that once held witch trials and executions. We seek to examine how those historically accused of being witches, who were mainly older or independent women, are portrayed in contemporary times and what gendered narratives this promotes and emphasizes. Methods include ethnographic techniques of participant and direct observation of witches tours to be immersed in the visitor experience including how these tours are advertised and how so-called witches are represented and to examine how the historic persecution of (some) women has been commercialised and sanitised for touristic consumption. How we view the past often influences how we see things in the present, and even tourist attractions based loosely on historic events can have an impact on re/constructing and reinforcing gendered narratives. The ways these witches tours are presented online suggests that they can be interpreted as one of the ‘lightest’ forms of dark tourism in that they are oriented for edutainment in a Disneyfied vein.
Chapters in this book
- 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
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
