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Completed
Tourism in Conflict Places: A Study of the Emotional Dynamics of Dark Tourism in the Palestinian West Bank
FunderNetherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
Duration30 Jan 2016 - 13 Dec 2024
Project code451-15-041
Open Access mandatePublications: NoResearch data: No
Identifiers
Project timeline100%
Description
Dark tourism (travel in places of atrocity, conflict, death and disaster) is a complex phenomenon with important cultural, socio-political and economic implications at local, regional and international levels. Building on prior research conducted in Jordan and brief stays in neighbouring West Bank in 2010, I propose to investigate dark tourism in areas of active or simmering socio-political conflict, specifically in the Palestinian West Bank. Research questions to be explored revolve around the ways in which tourism in conflict places exists in spite of the ongoing conflict; the role of affective and emotional tourism experiences in shaping identity of conflict places; and the dynamics of affects and emotions, that is the ways they are negotiated and transferred between tourists and local tourism stakeholders. The aim of this proposal is, therefore, threefold: (1) to advance a theory of critical dark tourism by combining cultural theory of affect and emotion with psychoanalytic theory; (2) to examine, through tourism ethnography, the ways affects and emotions are experienced in such ways so as to shape place identity in conflict-affected areas; and (3) to propose the theoretical psychoanalytic concepts of (counter-)transference and projection when interpreting the ways emotions and affects are negotiated by tourists and local tourism stakeholders in conflict places. I propose to be based in Bethlehem for eight months during two major tourism seasons, where I will conduct ethnographic work, collect field information through interviews with tourists and local tourism stakeholders, and through participant observation. Findings from this project will contribute to the development of novel cross-disciplinary methodologies, and of a critical theoretical approach to study dark tourism in conflict places. This is highly needed not only to strengthen the research sub-field of dark tourism, but also to improve planning and development of tourism in conflict-affected areas in more socio-politically and culturally sustainable ways.
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Dark tourism (travel in places of atrocity, conflict, death and disaster) is a complex phenomenon with important cultural, socio-political and economic implications at local, regional and international levels. Building on prior research conducted in Jordan and brief stays in neighbouring West Bank in 2010, I propose to investigate dark tourism in areas of active or simmering socio-political conflict, specifically in the Palestinian West Bank. Research questions to be explored revolve around the ways in which tourism in conflict places exists in spite of the ongoing conflict; the role of affective and emotional tourism experiences in shaping identity of conflict places; and the dynamics of affects and emotions, that is the ways they are negotiated and transferred between tourists and local tourism stakeholders. The aim of this proposal is, therefore, threefold: (1) to advance a theory of critical dark tourism by combining cultural theory of affect and emotion with psychoanalytic theory; (2) to examine, through tourism ethnography, the ways affects and emotions are experienced in such ways so as to shape place identity in conflict-affected areas; and (3) to propose the theoretical psychoanalytic concepts of (counter-)transference and projection when interpreting the ways emotions and affects are negotiated by tourists and local tourism stakeholders in conflict places. I propose to be based in Bethlehem for eight months during two major tourism seasons, where I will conduct ethnographic work, collect field information through interviews with tourists and local tourism stakeholders, and through participant observation. Findings from this project will contribute to the development of novel cross-disciplinary methodologies, and of a critical theoretical approach to study dark tourism in conflict places. This is highly needed not only to strengthen the research sub-field of dark tourism, but also to improve planning and development of tourism in conflict-affected areas in more socio-politically and culturally sustainable ways.
